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Ballymoney Rath is a raised rath situated in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Raths are circular or oval enclosed homesteads that served as the residences of Irish farming families from the early Christian period through the medieval centuries. This example sits upon bedrock formed from Palaeogene extrusive rocks, primarily mafic lava and tuff that solidified during intense volcanic activity in the early Tertiary period, lending the underlying landscape its distinctive dark basaltic character common to this region of Ulster.
The monument is preserved as a raised earthwork, with banks and ditches forming its defining features. Its elevated construction may have provided both practical drainage advantages on the local terrain and defensive benefits. The rath's position within the Ballymoney area places it within a landscape of considerable archaeological significance, where similar domestic enclosures reflect the dispersed settlement patterns of early medieval rural society.
The site is now protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 1803, ensuring its preservation for future study. Raised raths of this type offer valuable evidence of early Christian domestic life, settlement organisation and land use in early medieval Ulster, contributing to our understanding of how farming families organised their domestic and agricultural activities over more than a thousand years ago.
Raised rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 1803. 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 1803.
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 1803.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Movanagher castle. plantation castle, bawn & village site (1.9 km), Black stone, daff, daff burial ground, duff stone, duff stone. passage tomb (5 km), Craigs upper, irish craigs. enclosure (5.1 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.