This square enclosure, measuring roughly 50 metres on each side, sits tucked into a gentle fold on the north-facing slope of a hill. Though you’d struggle to spot it from ground level now, the site was significant enough to be carefully marked on the 1839 Ordnance Survey six-inch map, where it appears as a clearly defined embanked or moated enclosure.

These moated sites are fascinating remnants of medieval Ireland, typically dating from the 13th to 14th centuries when Anglo-Norman settlers established farmsteads across the countryside. The moat itself would have been a water-filled ditch surrounding a raised platform where a timber hall or farmhouse once stood, offering both drainage and a degree of security to its inhabitants. Such sites are particularly common in County Wexford, which saw extensive Anglo-Norman settlement following the initial invasion of 1169.

The Ballymacsimon site was first properly documented by archaeologist Barry in 1977, who catalogued it as WX 15 in his survey of the region. Later incorporated into the Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford published in 1996, the site remains an important, if subtle, piece of the medieval landscape; a reminder that even the quietest fields can hold centuries of history beneath their surface.