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Larne Motte is a medieval earthwork located in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The monument consists of an artificially raised mound, a characteristic feature of Norman and Anglo-Norman fortifications constructed from the 12th century onwards. Built upon bedrock comprising Hibernian Greensands and Ulster White Limestone from the Late Cretaceous period, the motte would have originally been crowned with a wooden palisade and defensive structures, with an accompanying bailey, or outer defensive enclosure, positioned at its base.
The site sits within the broader landscape of Anglo-Norman settlement in eastern Ulster, a region settled following the invasion of Ireland in 1169. Mottes of this type served as strongholds for incoming lords and their garrisons, providing both residential and military functions across newly conquered territories. The chalk and sandstone bedrock underlying the monument would have presented both advantages and challenges for construction and long-term stability of such earthworks.
Larne Motte is protected as a scheduled monument under the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities, Northern Ireland, under reference number 2786. The monument represents an important material record of the medieval period and the processes of Anglo-Norman colonisation in Ireland, preserving evidence of settlement patterns and fortification strategies spanning several centuries.
Motte is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 2786. View the official record →
Larne Motte is a medieval earthwork located in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 2786.
Motte dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a motte. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Motte 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 2786.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Platform rath & souterrain (1.7 km), Carndoo, the abbey, druid's altar. court tomb (4.4 km), Dunisland moat, dunisland fort. motte (4.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Motte'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.
Motte stands on Hibernian Greensands Formation And Ulster White Limestone Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Late Cretaceous. The rock here is chalk and sandstone.