This oval platform, measuring approximately 40 metres northwest to southeast and 30 metres northeast to southwest, rises about 1.8 metres above the natural ground level. Today it forms part of the manicured gardens at Castlefarm, a 19th-century country house that was once known as Molahiffe Castle. A curved rubble wall of similar height traces the southwestern edge of the platform, likely added during the Victorian era when the country house was built.

The earthwork itself dates back to the late 12th century, when Thomas Fitzmaurice received a land grant from King John and likely constructed a ringwork castle here; a type of fortification consisting of a raised circular or oval platform surrounded by a ditch and bank, popular with the Anglo-Normans during their early years in Ireland. These structures served as administrative centres and defensive positions, allowing the new lords to control and defend their territories. The choice of this slightly elevated position would have given Fitzmaurice’s garrison a tactical advantage over the flat countryside whilst establishing a visible symbol of Norman authority in the region.

The site’s strategic importance endured well beyond the Anglo-Norman period, as evidenced by the ruins of a late medieval tower house that still stand in the platform’s southwestern quadrant. Known as Molahiffe Castle, this stone fortification represents a later phase of the site’s military use, when tower houses became the preferred defensive residences of the Irish gentry from the 15th century onwards. The layering of different periods; from Norman earthwork to medieval tower house to Georgian country estate; makes this modest rise in the Kerry landscape a remarkable chronicle of Irish history, where each generation built upon the foundations laid by their predecessors.