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Ballymoney Rath is a raised rath situated in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. This early Christian enclosure represents a substantial earthwork of the type that served as the domestic and administrative centre of a túath, or territorial unit, in early medieval Ireland. The monument comprises a raised platform surrounded by defensive banks and ditches, a form of settlement that flourished from the fifth century onwards across the Irish landscape.
The rath is founded upon Palaeogene extrusive rocks—mafic lavas and tuffs—which form the bedrock of this region. This volcanic geology, laid down some sixty million years ago, provided a natural foundation for the earthwork's construction. The raised platform itself would have supported timber structures, whilst the encircling earthworks afforded protection and demarcated the status of the inhabitants within early Christian society.
The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 1636 as a scheduled historic monument. Such raths are crucial archaeological witnesses to early medieval settlement patterns, social organisation and land use in Ulster. Ballymoney Rath contributes to our understanding of this formative period in Irish history, when Christian authority and territorial lordship reshaped the landscape and social order of the island.
Raised rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 1636. View the official record →
Ballymoney Rath is a raised rath situated in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 1636.
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 1636.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Island, possibly crannog (1.8 km), Kill old graveyard, kill graveyard. graveyard (3.2 km), Souterrain (3.2 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.