The site consists of a roughly rectangular enclosure measuring approximately 35 metres from east to west, though time and agriculture have left their mark on this once prominent feature of the landscape.

Today, visitors to the site will find only subtle traces of its former glory. A slight rise in the ground along the northwest and northern edges hints at the defensive earthen banks that once surrounded the enclosure. These would have originally been much more substantial, likely topped with a wooden palisade and accompanied by a water-filled moat; a common defensive arrangement for rural settlements during the medieval period. The absence of any other visible surface features suggests that whatever structures once stood within the enclosure, whether a timber hall, outbuildings, or agricultural stores, have long since vanished.

Moated sites like this one at Aghnacross were typically built between the 13th and 14th centuries, often by Anglo-Norman settlers or prosperous Irish families seeking to protect their homesteads and demonstrate their status. The moat served both practical and symbolic purposes, keeping livestock in, unwanted visitors out, and providing a ready source of water whilst proclaiming the owner’s wealth and importance. Though this particular site has been recorded in the Archaeological Inventory of County Laois since 1995, its exact history remains elusive, leaving us to imagine the lives of those who once called this fortified enclosure home.