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Tara fort is a bivallate rath situated in the Ards Peninsula of County Down, Northern Ireland. As an early Christian rath, it represents the type of enclosed homestead that became widespread across Ireland from around the fifth century onwards. The monument consists of two concentric earthen banks with ditches, creating a defended enclosure typical of the period when such raths served as the residences of families of considerable local standing.
The fort is constructed upon bedrock of the Hawick Group, a hard, fine-grained wacke formed during the Wenlock period of the Silurian geological timescale. This underlying geology has proved sufficiently stable to preserve the monument's earthwork defences across more than fifteen centuries, with the stone-rich foundation providing drainage that has helped protect the site from waterlogging.
The rath is protected as a scheduled historic monument under the Historic Environment Division reference 7655. Its location within the Ards Peninsula, one of the most densely settled regions of early medieval Ulster, places it within a significant landscape of contemporary settlement. The fort's bivallate construction suggests its occupants possessed resources to maintain substantial defences, reflecting the social and economic importance of such enclosed homesteads during the formative period of Christian Ireland.
Tara fort. bivallate rath is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 7655. View the official record →
Tara fort is a bivallate rath situated in the Ards Peninsula of County Down, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 7655.
Tara fort. bivallate rath 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.
Tara fort. bivallate rath 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 7655.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Platform rath (1.2 km), Ballytrustan. medieval church & graveyard (2 km), Motte (3.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Tara fort. bivallate rath'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.
Tara fort. bivallate rath stands on Hawick Group, bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is wacke.