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# Ring Barrow, Larne
Ring barrow, Larne is a Bronze Age funerary monument consisting of a circular mound surrounded by a ditch or bank. The site lies in County Antrim on bedrock formed from Palaeogene mafic lavas and tuffs, volcanic rocks that solidified tens of millions of years after the Bronze Age community who constructed this burial mound had long passed. The monument is one of Northern Ireland's surviving examples of this distinctive burial form, in which a central grave or cremation deposit was enclosed within concentric rings of stone, earth or both.
Ring barrows typically date to the Middle and Late Bronze Age, representing a period of evolving funerary practices across the British Isles. The circular ditch-and-bank configuration would have been visually prominent in the Bronze Age landscape, marking a place of ancestral importance and community identity. Such monuments often contained single or multiple burials, sometimes accompanied by grave goods reflecting the status or role of the deceased.
The site at Larne is protected under Historic Environment Division reference 2361 as a scheduled ancient monument. The volcanic bedrock underlying the site presents particular archaeological interest, as Bronze Age communities had to adapt their burial construction techniques to local geology and available materials when establishing these enduring memorials to their dead.
Ring barrow is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 2361. View the official record →
# Ring Barrow, Larne Ring barrow, Larne is a Bronze Age funerary monument consisting of a circular mound surrounded by a ditch or bank. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 2361.
Ring barrow dates from the bronze age period, and is classified as a barrow. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Ring barrow 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 2361.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Little ardymagh. ecclesiastical enclosure with souterrains (6.7 km), Souterrain (6.7 km), Church & enclosure (6.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Ring barrow'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.
Ring barrow stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.