Cropmarks visible in the 1960s Cambridge University aerial survey (photographs CUCAP BGN 43, BOC 73) show the ghostly outlines of what appears to be an ancient rectangular enclosure, catalogued as KD037-040001. The main enclosure stretches approximately 100 metres from east to west and about 50 metres north to south, with entrance gaps clearly visible on both the eastern and western sides. These marks in the crops above indicate the presence of buried ditches, or fosses, which once formed the boundaries of this prehistoric or early historic settlement.

What makes this site particularly interesting is the presence of a second rectangular structure, designated KD037-040002, which appears as an annexe connected to the western entrance of the main enclosure. The archaeology becomes more complex here, as overlapping ditch marks suggest this second enclosure went through at least two distinct phases of construction or modification. It’s possible that this annexe started life as an entirely separate enclosure before being incorporated into the larger complex, though without excavation it’s difficult to say for certain.

Sites like this one are fairly common across the Irish landscape, though many remain visible only through cropmarks during dry conditions when buried features affect plant growth above them. The rectangular shape and ditch construction suggest this could be anything from an Iron Age farmstead to an early medieval settlement; similar enclosed sites across Kildare have been dated to various periods spanning over a thousand years. While it may look like nothing more than ordinary farmland from ground level, this field holds centuries, perhaps millennia, of human history just beneath its surface.