© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)
Rath and Souterrain is an early Christian enclosed settlement and underground passage located in the Newry and Mourne district of County Down. The monument consists of a circular earthwork characteristic of the rath form, a defensive homestead type widespread in early medieval Ireland, combined with a souterrain—a subterranean stone-built structure that likely served domestic and defensive purposes. Dating to the early Christian period, this site represents an important phase of settlement activity in the region.
The site lies upon bedrock of the Hawick Group, a formation of wacke (indurated mudstone) dating to the Wenlock period of the Silurian. The local geology would have provided readily available stone for the construction of the souterrain and for consolidating the earthwork's defences. The combination of rath and souterrain on this location suggests a substantial settlement, possibly of some social standing during the early medieval period.
The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities under reference 6134, ensuring its preservation as a record of early Christian settlement patterns and defensive architecture in Ulster. Sites of this character, combining surface and subterranean features, offer valuable evidence of domestic life, social organisation and land use during the first centuries of the Christian era in Ireland.
Rath & souterrain is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 6134. View the official record →
Rath and Souterrain is an early Christian enclosed settlement and underground passage located in the Newry and Mourne district of County Down. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 6134.
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 6134.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Rath (0.2 km), Rath & souterrain (0.5 km), Rath & ?souterrain (0.8 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 Hawick Group, bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is wacke.