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Bivallate Rath is a small early Christian ringfort situated near Omagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The monument consists of two concentric earthen banks separated by a ditch, a defensive arrangement known as bivallate. Built upon Westphalian sandstone and conglomerate bedrock of the Slievebane Group, the rath would have functioned as a residential and defensive settlement for an early medieval farming family or small community, typical of the fifth to twelfth centuries in Ireland.
Raths of this period characteristically enclosed domestic buildings and livestock within their defended perimeter, reflecting the social hierarchy and pastoral economy of early Christian Ireland. The bivallate configuration suggests either periodic expansion of an original settlement or heightened defensive concerns, and would have provided shelter for both family members and valuable cattle, the primary measure of wealth in this era.
The monument is afforded statutory protection by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities, registered under reference number 15136. Its location in the landscape of upland Tyrone, on bedrock of the distinctive Slievebane Group, anchors this example to the regional settlement patterns and geological conditions that shaped early medieval settlement across Ulster.
Bivallate rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 15136. View the official record →
Bivallate Rath is a small early Christian ringfort situated near Omagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 15136.
Bivallate rath dates from the e.christ. period, and is classified as a rath. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Bivallate rath is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Ni. The official designation reference is 15136.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Stone alignment, megalithic tomb (remains of) & associated features (3.3 km), Lettergash fort. counterscarp rath (3.5 km), Church (3.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Bivallate rath's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Bivallate rath stands on Slievebane Group, bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.