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Magherafelt Platform Rath is a platform rath of early Christian date located in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The monument stands on bedrock composed of an unnamed Ordovician to Silurian igneous intrusion, a felsic rock formation typical of the region's ancient geology. This geological foundation has supported human settlement for many centuries following the monument's construction during the early Christian period.
Platform raths are artificial earthen platforms that served as the foundations for domestic or defensive structures. Constructed without the steep defensive banks characteristic of other rath types, they represent a simpler settlement form that was widespread across Ireland during the early medieval period. The platform at Magherafelt would have supported timber structures, now long vanished, that housed farming families or their livestock.
The site is protected by the Historic Environment Division of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency under monument record 13103, ensuring its preservation as evidence of early Christian settlement patterns in the north of Ireland. The rath's survival on the Magherafelt landscape contributes to understanding the distribution and nature of early medieval rural settlement in this part of Ulster, where such monuments remain significant archaeological resources.
Platform rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 13103. View the official record →
Magherafelt Platform Rath is a platform rath of early Christian date located in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 13103.
Platform 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.
Platform 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 13103.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Rath (2.8 km), Rath (3.7 km), Platform rath (5.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Platform 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.
Platform rath stands on Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Ordovician To Silurian, bedrock that formed in the Silurian. The rock here is felsic-rock.