That phrase, so carefully noncommittal, points to something that resists easy classification. It is old enough to be noted, unusual enough to be recorded, but not yet fully understood.

Cahircalla Beg, whose name derives from the Irish meaning something close to the small circular stone fort, sits in a landscape that has been continuously inhabited and worked for millennia. Clare's midlands are dense with ringforts, field systems, and domestic remains that span from the early medieval period through to post-medieval times, and houses in such areas often prove difficult to date precisely without excavation. A structure classed simply as a house of indeterminate date may represent anything from a late medieval dwelling to an early modern farmstead, its original occupants and construction period still to be established.