© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)
Dunboy is a raised rath with souterrain situated in Moyle, Northern Ireland. The monument dates to the early medieval period and represents a form of ringfort settlement characteristic of early Christian Ireland. The rath comprises an artificially raised earthen mound surrounded by defensive works, a construction method that lifted the domestic enclosure above the surrounding terrain for both practical and symbolic purposes.
The souterrain—an underground stone-lined passage—was an integral feature of such settlements, serving functions ranging from storage and refuge to ritual significance. At Dunboy, this subterranean element survives as evidence of the site's complex internal organisation. The monument sits upon bedrock comprising the Hibernian Greensands Formation and Ulster White Limestone Formation, Late Cretaceous chalk and sandstone deposits that would have influenced both the excavation of the souterrain and the stability of the earthworks.
Dunboy is protected as a scheduled monument by the Historic Environment Division of Northern Ireland under reference 199. The site contributes to understanding the settlement patterns, defensive strategies and domestic arrangements of early medieval communities in the north-east of the island, preserving physical evidence of a period when such ringforts formed the centres of territorial organisation and pastoral economy.
Dunboy. raised rath with souterrain is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 199. View the official record →
Dunboy is a raised rath with souterrain situated in Moyle, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 199.
Dunboy. raised rath with 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.
Dunboy. raised rath 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 199.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Portbradden ice house. ice house (0.7 km), Teampull lastrac, tempull lastrac, temple-lassaragh. pre-norman, medieval & post-med. churches & graveyard with cross (0.8 km), Cloughnaboghil, druids stone, cloghnaboghil, cloghnaboghil. passage tomb (1.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Dunboy. raised rath 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.
Dunboy. raised rath with souterrain stands on Hibernian Greensands Formation And Ulster White Limestone Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Late Cretaceous. The rock here is chalk and sandstone.