The site consists of a rectangular earthwork platform, roughly 40 metres by 30 metres, surrounded by a water-filled defensive ditch or moat. These fortified homesteads were typically built between the 13th and 14th centuries, when colonists needed protection not just from Irish raids but also from rival Anglo-Norman families competing for territory.

The moat itself would have been about 10 metres wide and several metres deep, fed by natural springs or diverted streams; a formidable barrier that served both defensive and domestic purposes. The raised platform in the centre would have supported a timber hall, outbuildings, and perhaps a small tower, all enclosed by a wooden palisade. Archaeological evidence from similar sites suggests these compounds housed extended families along with servants, livestock, and stored crops, functioning as self-sufficient farmsteads as much as military outposts.

What makes Meanus particularly interesting is its location on the frontier between Gaelic and Anglo-Norman territories. Unlike the great stone castles built by wealthy lords, moated sites represented a more modest form of colonisation, constructed by lesser nobles and prosperous farmers trying to establish themselves in contested lands. Today, the earthworks remain clearly visible in the landscape, with the distinctive rectangular platform and surrounding depression marking where medieval settlers once carved out their precarious existence on the edge of two worlds.