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Bivallate rath is a Early Christian ringfort located in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The monument comprises two concentric defensive banks and ditches, a defensive design characteristic of Irish raths from the Early Christian period, roughly the fifth to twelfth centuries. The site is situated on bedrock composed of Palaeogene extrusive rocks—mafic lavas and tuffs—which form part of the distinctive volcanic geology of this region.
Ringforts of this type served as fortified domestic settlements for farming families of rank and status. The bivallate structure, with its two defensive circuits, suggests a settlement of some importance. The geological foundation of Palaeogene volcanic stone would have provided a relatively stable base for the construction and maintenance of the earthwork banks and their associated ditches.
The rath is protected by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities under reference number 3827. As a scheduled monument, it remains an important record of Early Christian settlement patterns and land use in medieval Ulster, contributing to understanding of the period's social hierarchy and defensive settlement strategies across the Irish landscape.
Bivallate rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 3827. View the official record →
Bivallate rath is a Early Christian ringfort located in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 3827.
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 3827.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Bivallate rath (5.8 km), Rath (6.4 km), Motte (6.9 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 Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.