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Raised Rath is a early Christian rath located in County Down, Northern Ireland, protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 7512. The monument sits upon bedrock of the Gala Group, a wacke formation dating to the Telychian period, which underlies this region of the county. Raths of this period typically served as defended homesteads for members of the Irish aristocracy and farming families.
The raised construction of this rath would have involved the deliberate building up of an earthen platform, creating an elevated interior space surrounded by a ditch and outer bank. This distinctive form offered practical advantages in drainage and defence whilst also conveying status through its labour-intensive construction. The wacke bedrock beneath the site is a hard, compact sedimentary stone typical of County Down's geology.
The early Christian dating suggests this rath was occupied or constructed during the period when Christianity was taking root in Ireland, though such settlements often continued to function using settlement patterns established centuries earlier. Raths of this type remain important archaeological features for understanding rural settlement, social organisation and land use during the early medieval period in Ireland.
Raised rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 7512. View the official record →
Raised Rath is a early Christian rath located in County Down, Northern Ireland, protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 7512.
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 7512.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Neolithic house (1.4 km), White fort. cashel with house & souterrain (3.5 km), Rath (3.8 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 Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.