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Killagan fort is a raised rath situated near Ballymoney in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. A rath represents an early Christian ringfort, a domestic and defensive settlement type characteristic of Ireland from around the fifth century onwards. This example survives as an earthwork monument, with its defining feature being the raised or elevated interior platform, a distinctive variant of the standard rath form that provided additional protection and drainage advantages for its inhabitants.
The fort lies upon bedrock composed of Palaeogene extrusive rocks—primarily mafic lava and tuff—which shaped the local landscape during the Tertiary period. This volcanic geology would have influenced both the site's selection and the construction techniques employed by its early medieval occupants, who worked with the available stone resources when building their fortification.
The monument is recorded in the Historic Environment Division's statutory protection schedule (reference 1634) and represents an important survival of early Christian settlement archaeology in the Ballymoney area. Such raths functioned as farmsteads and residences for families of status, typically housing domestic buildings within their defended enclosure. The raised construction at Killagan suggests adaptation to local topographical or hydrological conditions specific to this location.
Killagan fort. raised rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 1634. View the official record →
Killagan fort is a raised rath situated near Ballymoney in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 1634.
Killagan fort. raised 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.
Killagan fort. raised 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 1634.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Souterrain (0.5 km), Kill old graveyard, kill graveyard. graveyard (0.5 km), Raised rath & annexe (1.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Killagan fort. raised 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.
Killagan fort. raised rath stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.