© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)
Rath & souterrain at Ballymena, County Antrim, is an early Christian fortified settlement comprising a raised earthen ringfort and an underground stone-lined passage. The monument sits on bedrock of Palaeogene age, formed from ancient mafic lava flows and tuff deposits that underlie much of this part of County Antrim. The rath itself would have served as a defended homestead for a person of some status, with its circular earthwork providing both protection and a visual statement of authority within the landscape.
The souterrain, a characteristic feature of Iron Age and early Christian settlement in Ireland, represents a stone-built underground chamber or passage. These structures served various purposes including storage, refuge during raids, and ritual functions. The combination of rath and souterrain at this location suggests sustained occupation and habitation during the early Christian period, when such settlements were common across northern Ireland.
The monument is now protected by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities, Northern Ireland, under reference number 2202. It survives as an important archaeological record of domestic settlement, subsistence patterns and social organisation in early medieval Ulster. The local geology of volcanic bedrock has influenced both the settlement's construction and its preservation, with the underlying solid rock providing stability for both the earthwork and the stone-lined souterrain.
Rath & souterrain is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 2202. View the official record →
Rath & souterrain at Ballymena, County Antrim, is an early Christian fortified settlement comprising a raised earthen ringfort and an underground stone-lined passage. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 2202.
Rath & souterrain dates from the e.christ. period, and is classified as a rath & souterrain. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Rath & souterrain 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 2202.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Rath and structures (0.2 km), Rath & souterrain (0.6 km), Standing stone (2.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Rath & souterrain'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 & souterrain stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.