© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)
Rath Group is a substantial early Christian ringfort complex situated in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, comprising three distinct earthwork forms that represent different phases or functional variations within a single settlement hierarchy. The site includes a univallate rath with a single defensive bank, a counterscarp rath distinguished by an external bank positioned beyond its main ditch, and a trivallate rath defended by three concentric banks. This combination reflects the prosperity and complexity of early medieval settlement in the region, where such fortified homesteads served as the residences of farming families and minor nobility between roughly the fifth and twelfth centuries.
The monuments rest upon bedrock of Palaeogene mafic lava and tuff, volcanic rocks that underlie much of the Antrim plateau. This ancient geological foundation would have influenced both the construction techniques and the defensive capabilities of the earthworks, with the underlying stone helping to stabilise the ramparts and the local terrain shaping the settlement's layout.
The site is protected by the Historic Environment Division under statutory designation reference 4083, recognising its significance as an archaeological record of early medieval Antrim society and settlement patterns in this distinctive volcanic landscape.
Rath group - univallate rath, counterscarp rath & trivallate rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 4083. View the official record →
Rath Group is a substantial early Christian ringfort complex situated in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, comprising three distinct earthwork forms that represent different phases or functional variations within a single settlement hierarchy. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 4083.
Rath group - univallate rath, counterscarp rath & trivallate rath dates from the e.christ. period, and is classified as a rath group. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Rath group - univallate rath, counterscarp rath & trivallate 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 4083.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Donald's mound. mound - burial mound? (4.1 km), Counterscarp platform rath (5.7 km), Bivallate rath (5.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Rath group - univallate rath, counterscarp rath & trivallate 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.
Rath group - univallate rath, counterscarp rath & trivallate rath stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.