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Martray fort is a bivallate rath, an early Christian fortified residence located near Dungannon in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The monument comprises two concentric defensive earthen banks surrounding a central enclosure, a defensive arrangement typical of Irish raths dating to the early medieval period. The site's geology is shaped by bedrock of the Tyrone Group, comprising limestone, mudstone, sandstone and siltstone with subordinate deposits of chert, coal and conglomerate, all formed during the Visean period of the Carboniferous.
Raths served as high-status secular or ecclesiastical settlements, their dual ramparts providing both physical defence and a visual assertion of status. Martray fort's bivallate structure indicates the significance of its original occupants. The underlying Tyrone Group strata would have influenced both construction and the landscape's drainage patterns, affecting how the defensive banks were built and maintained.
The monument is recorded under the Historic Environment Division's protection scheme (reference 15546) and occupies grid reference H6457058930. These earthworks remain a tangible record of early Christian settlement patterns and defensive strategies in early medieval Ulster.
Martray fort. bivallate rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 15546. View the official record →
Martray fort is a bivallate rath, an early Christian fortified residence located near Dungannon in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 15546.
Martray fort. bivallate 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.
Martray fort. bivallate 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 15546.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Rath (5.2 km), Favor royal bawn. favor royal bawn (5.3 km), Large hilltop enclosure (5.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Martray fort. bivallate 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.
Martray fort. bivallate rath stands on Tyrone Group, bedrock that formed in the Visean. The rock here is limestone, mudstone, sandstone and siltstone, with subordinate chert, coal and conglomerate.