Today, the site lies beneath the waters of Blessington Reservoir, but aerial photography has captured its distinctive outline; a roughly rectangular enclosure measuring approximately 25 metres north to south and 20 metres east to west. The site’s defining features include a raised bank with an external fosse, or defensive ditch, which would have provided protection for whatever structures once stood within.

These moated sites are fascinating remnants of Anglo-Norman settlement patterns in medieval Ireland, typically dating from the 13th to 14th centuries. The enclosure at Carrig follows the classic design of such sites, where the combination of bank and fosse created both a practical defence and a statement of status in the landscape. While many associate castles with medieval fortifications, these smaller moated sites were far more common, serving as fortified farmsteads for lesser nobility and prosperous settlers.

Though now submerged, the site was documented through aerial surveys conducted by the Geological Survey of Ireland before the reservoir’s creation. The cropmarks visible in these photographs reveal the site’s footprint with remarkable clarity, showing how even centuries after abandonment, these earthworks left their mark on the landscape. Such sites remind us that beneath Ireland’s modern infrastructure lies a complex medieval landscape, where every strategic hill and river bend might have hosted a small fortress or defended homestead.