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Lisraw is a rath and souterrain of early Christian date located in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The monument consists of a ringfort with an associated underground stone-built passageway, a form of settlement characteristic of early medieval Irish society. Raths of this period typically served as defended homesteads for farming families or small communities, their circular earthen banks providing both practical enclosure and visible assertion of status within the local landscape.
The site sits upon bedrock of the Gala Group, a wacke formation deposited during the Telychian period of the Silurian geological epoch. This solid foundation would have influenced both the construction technique of the souterrain and the natural drainage of the ringfort's interior, making the location practical for habitation. The underlying geology is characteristic of this region of County Armagh, where similar deposits support the scattered distribution of early Christian monuments.
Lisraw is protected as a monument of archaeological importance by the Historic Environment Division under reference 5760. The survival of both the rath and its associated souterrain makes this site a valuable record of early medieval settlement practices and domestic life, preserving evidence of how communities across early Christian Ireland organised their living spaces and incorporated underground storage or refuge structures into their fortified farmsteads.
Lisraw. rath & souterrain is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 5760. View the official record →
Lisraw is a rath and souterrain of early Christian date located in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 5760.
Lisraw. rath & 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.
Lisraw. rath & 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 5760.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Danes cast. linear earthwork (6.2 km), Oval rath? (6.4 km), Platform rath (7.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Lisraw. rath & 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.
Lisraw. rath & souterrain stands on Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.