This 38-metre wide feature is defined by a two-metre high scarp that drops into a broad, flat-bottomed fosse; essentially a defensive ditch that’s three metres wide and about a metre deep on the exterior side. What appears to be a ramped entrance, also three metres wide, breaks through the eastern side of the enclosure, though notably there’s no sign of an external bank that might typically accompany such defensive earthworks.

The site’s classification as a moated site remains somewhat tentative, partly because it doesn’t appear on the first two editions of the six-inch Ordnance Survey maps. These omissions from historical cartography make dating and interpretation challenging, though the square shape and lowland location are consistent with medieval moated sites found elsewhere in Ireland. Such sites were typically built between the 13th and 14th centuries, often serving as fortified farmsteads for Anglo-Norman settlers or wealthy Irish families.

The archaeological record for this site comes primarily from the Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly, published in 1997, with subsequent updates based on more recent field research. The defensive fosse would originally have been filled with water, taking advantage of the site’s naturally poor drainage to create a formidable barrier. This combination of natural landscape and human engineering created a secure homestead that could control and defend the surrounding agricultural land whilst providing a clear statement of status and authority in the medieval Offaly landscape.