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Rawe's Fort is a counterscarp rath and possible souterrain of early Christian date situated in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The monument occupies ground underlain by wacke bedrock of the Leadhills Supergroup, geological formations laid down during the Ashgill period. The counterscarp rath represents a distinctive class of ringwork characteristic of early medieval Ireland, distinguishable by its inturned outer bank that created a defensive ditch facing outwards rather than inwards. The presence of a possible souterrain—an underground stone-built or earthen passage—would align with common early Christian settlement practice, where such chambers served ritual, defensive or domestic storage purposes.
The site lies within the historically significant landscape of Armagh, a region central to early Irish Christian development. The specific ground conditions created by the underlying wacke geology would have influenced construction techniques and the character of earthwork preservation. Rawe's Fort survives as an important archaeological record of early Christian settlement patterns and defensive architecture in Ulster.
The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities under reference number 5797.
Rawe's fort. counterscarp rath & possible souterrain is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 5797. View the official record →
Rawe's Fort is a counterscarp rath and possible souterrain of early Christian date situated in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 5797.
Rawe's fort. counterscarp rath & possible 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.
Rawe's fort. counterscarp rath & possible 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 5797.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Rath, reused as tree ring & lime kiln (1.6 km), Counterscarp rath (2.1 km), Rath (2.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Rawe's fort. counterscarp rath & possible 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.
Rawe's fort. counterscarp rath & possible souterrain stands on Leadhills Supergroup, bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is wacke.