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Carrickfergus Ring Barrow is a Bronze Age barrow of ring type, located in the townland of Carrickfergus, County Antrim. The monument survives as an earthwork comprising a central mound encircled by a ditch, a characteristic form of funerary monument dating to the Bronze Age period. Such structures typically served as burial places for individuals of standing within their community, with the encircling ditch both defining the sacred space and providing material for the mound's construction.
The barrow sits upon Palaeogene extrusive rocks, specifically mafic lava and tuff formations that underlie much of the Carrickfergus area. This volcanic bedrock would have presented specific conditions for both the initial construction of the monument and its subsequent preservation, affecting drainage and the survival of any associated deposits within the mound.
The site is protected as a scheduled monument under reference 3848 by the Historic Environment Division of Northern Ireland. Its survival as an identifiable earthwork demonstrates the enduring character of Bronze Age funerary monuments in the archaeological landscape of the Carrickfergus region, where such sites represent important evidence for understanding Bronze Age settlement and ritual practices in northeast Ulster.
Ring barrow is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 3848. View the official record →
Carrickfergus Ring Barrow is a Bronze Age barrow of ring type, located in the townland of Carrickfergus, County Antrim. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 3848.
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 3848.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Monkstown abbey, monketone, ballynamanagh, monkstown church, monkstown cemetery. medieval & post-med. church & graveyard with hollowed stone (3 km), Bivallate rath (4.7 km), White abbey, druin la croix, deulacressce. premonstratensian abbey (5.8 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.