ARCHAEOLOGY and HISTORY
There is evidence that The Braid Valley has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. A megalithic portal tomb in the townland of Ticloy was constructed around 5000 years ago. Neolithic stone axes and many flint tools and weapons have also been found in the Braid valley.
The Braid valley probably acted as a corridor, whereby early settlers made their way inland from the coast, were attracted by the good land and made the valley their home. In the early Christian period, over 1000 years ago, the inhabitants of the Braid Valley constructed ring-forts or raths. The rath is most commonly a circular area enclosed by an earthen bank and ditch.
The most common type of rath is that consisting of one bank and ditch. There is a good example of a stone built fort or cashel in the townland of Tamybuck and several of earth to the south of the village where the land rises towards Blacktop. Raths were fortified farmsteads, where prosperous farmers lived from about 400 AD until the Middle Ages.
