© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)
Rath with Later Annexe is an early Christian earthwork monument located in Banbridge, County Down, Northern Ireland. The site sits upon bedrock of the Gala Group, a wacke formation laid down during the Telychian period of the Silurian, which has shaped the underlying geology of this drumlin landscape. The monument consists of a rath, a univallate ringfort typical of early medieval settlement in Ireland, supplemented by a later annexe that extends its original defensive circuit.
The rath represents a domestic and possibly defensive settlement of early Christian date, whilst the annexed extension demonstrates modification and expansion of the site during its period of occupation. Such monuments served as the fortified homesteads of the native Irish élite and their families, combining residential, agricultural and storage functions within their earthen banks.
The site is designated as a protected monument under the Historic Environment Division reference 7679, recognising its archaeological and historical significance as evidence of early medieval Irish settlement and social organisation. The survival of both the original rath and its later annexe at this location preserves an important record of how ringfort communities adapted and developed their settlements across the centuries.
Rath with later annexe is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 7679. View the official record →
Rath with Later Annexe is an early Christian earthwork monument located in Banbridge, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 7679.
Rath with later annexe 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 with later annexe 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 7679.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Tierny fort. counterscarp rath (7.4 km), Rath (7.5 km), The danes cast. linear earthwork (7.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Rath with later annexe'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 with later annexe stands on Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.