Scheduled MonumentsNorthern IrelandLisburnThe court. plantation house & bawn
POST-MED · FORTIFICATION

The court. plantation house & bawn

Lisburn, Northern Ireland
NISMR MonID 6698
Period
POST-MED
Site type
FORTIFICATION
Nation
Northern Ireland
The designation
Reference
NISMR MonID 6698
Authority
DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)
Grid reference
J3003164420
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)

Overview

History & significance

The Court Plantation House and Bawn is a post-medieval fortification located in Lisburn, County Antrim. The bawn—a defensive wall enclosing the plantation settlement—represents a distinctive form of settler protection that emerged during the English and Scottish colonisation of Ulster in the early seventeenth century. Such fortifications combined practical defence against local resistance with the symbolic assertion of colonial authority over the landscape.

The site occupies bedrock of the Gala Group, sedimentary wacke deposits formed during the Telychian period of the Silurian, which provides the underlying geology of much of the Lisburn area. This ancient foundation supported the plantation-era settlement that developed above it, with the bawn's defensive earthworks or masonry walls arranged to protect both the plantation house and its surrounding demesne.

The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference number 6698, reflecting its significance as evidence of the material transformation of Ulster during the early modern plantation period. The survival of structural remains or earthwork traces at this location contributes to understanding how colonising communities in seventeenth-century Ireland defended their settlements and organised their territorial holdings.

The court. plantation house & bawn is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 6698. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is The court. plantation house & bawn?

The Court Plantation House and Bawn is a post-medieval fortification located in Lisburn, County Antrim. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 6698.

What period does The court. plantation house & bawn date from?

The court. plantation house & bawn dates from the post-med period, and is classified as a fortification. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting The court. plantation house & bawn?

The court. plantation house & bawn 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 6698.

What other scheduled monuments are near The court. plantation house & bawn?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Todd's grove. bivallate rath (3.5 km), Ballintine rath. rath (3.8 km), Raised rath (4.1 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about The court. plantation house & bawn

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of The court. plantation house & bawn's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman World
Ireland was never conquered by Rome, so this traces the island's Iron Age kingdoms and its contact with the Roman world.
Historic Records
The 19th-century records of this place: valuations, Ordnance Survey memoirs and topographical accounts.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under The court. plantation house & bawn

The court. plantation house & bawn stands on Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.