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# Platform Rath
This platform rath is an early Christian earthwork enclosure located near Omagh in County Tyrone. The monument consists of a raised platform surrounded by defensive banks and ditches, a characteristic form of settlement for early medieval Ireland. Such raths served as fortified homesteads for farming families and small communities, offering both domestic shelter and livestock protection during the period following the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.
The site sits upon bedrock of the Kilskeery Group, composed of sandstone, mudstone, siltstone and conglomerate deposits formed during the Chesterian period. This underlying geology would have influenced both the construction methods available to the monument's builders and the quality of agricultural land surrounding the settlement. The raised platform itself represents careful earth-moving and organisation of space typical of early Christian period sites, allowing inhabitants to achieve defensive advantage whilst maintaining access to water and pasture.
The rath is now protected as a scheduled monument by the Historic Environment Division under reference 15466, recognising its significance as evidence of settlement patterns and social organisation in early medieval Ulster. Such sites remain important sources of information about rural economy, settlement hierarchy and land use during the early Christian centuries.
Platform rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 15466. View the official record →
# Platform Rath This platform rath is an early Christian earthwork enclosure located near Omagh in County Tyrone. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 15466.
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 15466.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Rath (0.4 km), Rectangular counterscarped earthwork (3.4 km), Rath (3.5 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 Kilskeery Group, bedrock that formed in the Chesterian. The rock here is sandstone, mudstone, siltstone and conglomerate.