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Legar Hill burial ground is a multifunctional monument in Armagh, Northern Ireland, combining a prehistoric rath with later defensive and burial features. The rath—an Iron Age or early medieval ringfort—comprises an earthen enclosure that originally served as a fortified homestead. This circular or sub-circular structure was subsequently modified to incorporate an artillery bastion, indicating its reuse during the early modern period when firearms became the dominant technology of warfare. The addition of the bastion reflects the strategic importance of elevated positions in Armagh's defence during this era.
The site also functioned as a graveyard, with burials associated with both its later ecclesiastical and secular phases. Legar Hill's bedrock of Sherwood Sandstone Group—dating to the Ladinian period—provides stable geological foundations typical of the region's upland terrain. This geology would have influenced land-use patterns and made the elevated location attractive for both settlement and burial purposes.
The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 5224, recognising its significance as an archaeological palimpsest spanning Iron Age settlement through to early modern fortification and burial practices.
Legar hill burial ground, legar hill, leghor hill. rath, artillery bastion & graveyard is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 5224. View the official record →
Legar Hill burial ground is a multifunctional monument in Armagh, Northern Ireland, combining a prehistoric rath with later defensive and burial features. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 5224.
Legar hill burial ground, legar hill, leghor hill. rath, artillery bastion & graveyard dates from the e.christ. period, and is classified as a rath & fortification. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Legar hill burial ground, legar hill, leghor hill. rath, artillery bastion & graveyard 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 5224.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Clonfeacle, clonfeacle cross. multiperiod church & graveyard with cross (3.3 km), Mullan fort. artillery fort (3.6 km), Lisgobban fort. bivallate rath (3.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Legar hill burial ground, legar hill, leghor hill. rath, artillery bastion & graveyard'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.
Legar hill burial ground, legar hill, leghor hill. rath, artillery bastion & graveyard stands on Sherwood Sandstone Group, bedrock that formed in the Ladinian. The rock here is sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.