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Court Tomb at Moyle is a Neolithic megalithic tomb, a communal burial structure built approximately 4,000 years ago. The monument stands on bedrock of the Southern Highland Group, which comprises ancient lava flows, tuff and volcaniclastic deposits dating to the Middle Cambrian period. This hard, fractured volcanic stone would have been worked and moved by the tomb's builders to construct the monument, which once contained a stone burial chamber accessed through a forecourt.
The court tomb at Moyle belongs to a distinctive class of megalithic monument found exclusively in Ireland and concentrated in the north. The monument's name derives from the open courtyard, characteristic of the type, where ritual activities likely took place before passage into the burial chamber itself. These structures served successive generations of Neolithic communities as repositories for the cremated and inhumed remains of their dead.
The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 886. Its survival on the upland landscape of County Antrim represents an important record of Neolithic settlement patterns and burial practices in the north of Ireland. The monument's relationship to its volcanic bedrock provides evidence of the geological environment in which these early farming communities lived and worked.
Court tomb is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 886. View the official record →
Court Tomb at Moyle is a Neolithic megalithic tomb, a communal burial structure built approximately 4,000 years ago. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 886.
Court tomb dates from the neolithic period, and is classified as a megalithic tomb. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Court tomb 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 886.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Craigagh altar. craighagh altar and enclosure (4.2 km), Standing stone (4.6 km), Two standing stones (4.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Court tomb'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.
Court tomb stands on Southern Highland Group, bedrock that formed in the Middle Cambrian. The rock here is lava, tuff, volcaniclastic rock and sedimentary rock.