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Lisburn Earthwork Enclosure is a post-medieval enclosed site located in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, protected as a scheduled monument under Historic Environment Division reference 5041. The monument comprises an earthwork boundary that defines an enclosure, reflecting the land management practices of the early modern period when such structures served domestic, agricultural or defensive purposes across the Irish landscape.
The site lies on Palaeogene extrusive rocks, specifically mafic lavas and tuffs formed during intense volcanic activity millions of years before human settlement. This underlying geology of dark, heavy igneous material would have presented particular challenges to those constructing the earthwork, requiring considerable effort to shape and maintain the boundary in such demanding ground conditions.
Post-medieval enclosures of this type represent a period of intensifying land division and control in Ireland. Whether serving as a defended farmstead, cattle enclosure or demesne boundary, the monument preserves evidence of how communities organised their immediate landscape during a transformative era in Irish settlement history. Its survival as an earthwork demonstrates the durability of such features when constructed upon solid geological foundations.
Earthwork enclosure is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 5041. View the official record →
Lisburn Earthwork Enclosure is a post-medieval enclosed site located in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, protected as a scheduled monument under Historic Environment Division reference 5041.
Earthwork enclosure dates from the post-med period, and is classified as a enclosure. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Earthwork enclosure 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 5041.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Chimney (associated with knocknadona quarry) (4.8 km), Lime kilns (5no. associated with knocknadona quarry (4.9 km), Brookhill house demesne. motte & ?bailey (6.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Earthwork enclosure'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.
Earthwork enclosure stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.