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Black Fort Rath is an early Christian enclosure situated near Limavady in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The site consists of the earthwork remains of a rath, a ringfort formed by one or more defensive banks and ditches characteristic of early medieval Irish settlement. Such enclosed farmsteads served as domestic and pastoral centres for families of middling status, typically occupied between the fifth and twelfth centuries.
The monument stands on bedrock of the Argyll Group, Neoproterozoic deposits comprising marble and meta-limestone that underlie this section of the Londonderry landscape. These metamorphic rocks would have influenced both the drainage characteristics of the site and the stone resources available to its inhabitants. The natural topography and geology of the location shaped settlement choices and agricultural potential across this period.
Black Fort Rath is protected as a scheduled monument by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities under reference 12639, recognising its significance as an archaeological and historical asset. The survival of its earthwork structure preserves evidence of early Christian settlement patterns and land use in north-west Ulster during the early medieval period.
Black fort. rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 12639. View the official record →
Black Fort Rath is an early Christian enclosure situated near Limavady in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 12639.
Black fort. 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.
Black fort. 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 12639.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including White fort. cashel, souterrain & cairn (0.1 km), Rath (0.6 km), Altnaheglish reservoir. reservoir dam (3.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Black fort. 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.
Black fort. rath stands on Argyll Group, bedrock that formed in the Neoproterozoic. The rock here is marble, meta-limestone.