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Cashel with souterrain is an early Christian settlement located in Moyle, County Antrim. The site comprises a stone-built enclosure, typical of early medieval settlement patterns in Ulster, with an underground passage or souterrain constructed within or adjacent to the cashel. Such fortified homesteads were common from the 5th century onwards and often served as high-status residences for ecclesiastical or secular lords.
The monument sits upon bedrock of the Argyll Group, Neoproterozoic in age, comprising metamorphic rocks including psammite, semipelite and pelite. This ancient foundation would have presented significant challenges to the builders, who constructed their defensive walls and subterranean passages through careful exploitation of the local geology. The souterrain represents a distinctive feature of early Christian archaeology in northern Ireland, possibly serving defensive, storage or ritual purposes.
The site is protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 596 as a monument of archaeological and historical significance. The cashel and its associated souterrain contribute to our understanding of early medieval settlement, social organisation and building technology in this region of Ulster during the early Christian period.
Cashel with souterrain is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 596. View the official record →
Cashel with souterrain is an early Christian settlement located in Moyle, County Antrim. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 596.
Cashel with souterrain dates from the e.christ. period, and is classified as a cashel. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Cashel with 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 596.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Tullaghore crosses. crosses (2) (1.3 km), Enclosure & souterrain - part of armoy ecclesiastical site [ant 013 (2.5 km), Standing stone (3.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Cashel with 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.
Cashel with souterrain stands on Argyll Group, bedrock that formed in the Neoproterozoic. The rock here is psammite, semipelite and pelite.