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Ballymoney Raised Rath is a raised rath, or ringfort, situated in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 1382. This early Christian settlement represents a significant phase of Irish rural occupation dating to the early medieval period, when such enclosed homesteads served as the domestic and defensive centres of farming families and minor nobility.
The rath occupies a landscape underlain by Palaeogene extrusive rocks—specifically mafic lava and tuff deposits—creating a foundation of volcanic stone that would have influenced the immediate environment and available materials. The raised character of this particular rath suggests deliberate earthwork construction to enhance defensive capability and improve drainage, a practical adaptation to the local topography and soil conditions of the northern Irish landscape.
Raised raths of this type typically comprised an earth bank with an internal ditch, often with additional palisading, creating a compact enclosed space for domestic buildings and livestock. Such monuments are widespread across Ulster and demonstrate the continuity of settlement patterns from Iron Age through to the medieval period, reflecting established hierarchies of land use and community organisation in early Christian Ireland.
Raised rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 1382. View the official record →
Ballymoney Raised Rath is a raised rath, or ringfort, situated in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 1382.
Raised 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.
Raised 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 1382.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Standing stone (2.4 km), Standing stone (2.6 km), Standing stone (2.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Raised 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.
Raised rath stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.