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Rath — a e. christ. rath is an early Christian earthwork monument located near Limavady in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The site sits upon bedrock of the Mercia Mudstone Group, comprising mudstone, sandstone and limestone deposits formed during the Rhaetian period. This geological foundation would have influenced both the construction and preservation of the earthwork, with the underlying mudstone potentially affecting drainage patterns across the enclosed settlement.
Early Christian raths were circular or oval ringforts, typically consisting of a single or multiple earth banks surrounding a domestic enclosure. These structures served as defended homesteads for farming communities during the early medieval period in Ireland. The form represented an enduring settlement type, adapted from Iron Age hillforts but repurposed for Christian-era pastoral and agricultural life.
The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 11724, ensuring its preservation as an important record of early Christian settlement patterns in the north of Ireland. Raths of this period remain archaeologically significant for understanding domestic organisation, social hierarchy and land use in early medieval Ulster.
Rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 11724. View the official record →
Rath — a e. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 11724.
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.
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 11724.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Cairn & enclosure (1.6 km), Rath (2.8 km), Drumachose church. multiperiod church site & graveyard (c6th-post-med.) (3.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of 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 stands on Mercia Mudstone Group, bedrock that formed in the Rhaetian. The rock here is mudstone, sandstone and limestone.