© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)
Rath is an early Christian earthwork monument located in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The site consists of a univallate ringfort—a circular or sub-circular enclosure formed by a single bank and ditch—typical of settlement sites established across Ireland during the early medieval period. Such raths functioned as defended homesteads for farming families of rank, with the earthwork providing both practical protection and visible assertion of status within their landscape.
The monument sits on bedrock of the Tyrone Group, a Visean-aged geological formation comprising limestone, mudstone, sandstone and siltstone with subordinate deposits of chert, coal and conglomerate. This varied substrate would have influenced the construction method and durability of the rath's defences, whilst the underlying resources offered potential for local use and trade.
The site is protected as a monument of archaeological and historical importance by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities under reference 9667. Early Christian raths across Fermanagh represent a crucial phase in the region's settlement pattern, occupying a landscape already shaped by earlier occupation and providing evidence for the territorial organisation of early medieval society in Ulster.
Rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 9667. View the official record →
Rath is an early Christian earthwork monument located in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 9667.
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 9667.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Rath (6.7 km), Crannog in ross lough (7.2 km), Burnt mound / fulacht fiadh (7.9 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 Tyrone Group, bedrock that formed in the Visean. The rock here is limestone, mudstone, sandstone and siltstone, with subordinate chert, coal and conglomerate.