These rectangular earthworks, surrounded by water-filled ditches, were once common throughout Ireland between the 13th and 17th centuries. The Farranmacfarrell site consists of a raised platform, roughly 30 metres square, enclosed by a substantial ditch that would have been filled with water from nearby streams. Though only earthen banks and depressions remain today, this was once home to a timber hall or tower house, along with various outbuildings for livestock and storage.

Archaeological evidence suggests the site was occupied well into the early modern period, possibly serving as a stronghold for a local Gaelic family or as a defended farmstead for Anglo-Norman settlers who ventured west into Connacht. The choice of location was strategic; the naturally marshy ground of this part of Sligo made the water defences particularly effective, whilst the slight elevation provided views across the surrounding landscape. Pottery fragments and iron tools discovered during field surveys indicate both domestic activity and small-scale metalworking took place here.

Today, the site sits quietly in farmland, its defensive ditches now dry and overgrown with rushes and brambles. Like many of Ireland’s estimated 750 moated sites, Farranmacfarrell represents a fascinating period when the country was a patchwork of competing territories, and even modest landholders felt the need to surround their homes with defensive earthworks. These monuments, though less dramatic than stone castles, tell the story of everyday people adapting to uncertain times; farmers, merchants, and minor gentry who built their own small fortresses in the Irish countryside.