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Bivallate Rath & Souterrain is an early Christian defensive settlement consisting of two concentric earthwork banks encircling a residential platform, situated on Palaeogene volcanic bedrock in County Antrim. Such raths were characteristic of early medieval Irish settlement patterns, typically housing a single family or small community within their protective ramparts. The presence of an underground passage or chamber—a souterrain—indicates storage facilities or refuge space, common features of high-status early Christian dwellings. The twin defensive banks suggest either later reinforcement or construction in a strategically significant location.
The monument's situation upon mafic lava and tuff deposits, characteristic of the ancient volcanic activity that shaped the Antrim landscape, anchors it within the region's distinctive geology. Early Christian raths across Ireland served both defensive and symbolic functions, marking territories and social status within the developing ecclesiastical and secular hierarchy of the period.
The site is protected by the Historic Environment Division under statutory protection (reference 2781), recognising its archaeological significance as evidence of early Christian settlement, economy and social organisation in early medieval Ulster.
Bivallate rath & souterrain is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 2781. View the official record →
Bivallate Rath & Souterrain is an early Christian defensive settlement consisting of two concentric earthwork banks encircling a residential platform, situated on Palaeogene volcanic bedrock in County Antrim. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 2781.
Bivallate rath & souterrain dates from the e.christ. period, and is classified as a rath & souterrain. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Bivallate rath & souterrain 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 2781.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Kilmakee stone circle. cairn ('stone circle') (6.1 km), Mound - raised rath? (6.5 km), Raised rath (7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Bivallate rath & souterrain'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 & souterrain stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.