These rectangular or square enclosures, surrounded by water-filled ditches, were once home to Anglo-Norman settlers who arrived in Ireland during the 12th and 13th centuries. The Ardfry site, like many of its kind scattered across the Irish midlands and east, consists of a raised platform that would have supported a timber hall or tower house, with the surrounding moat serving both defensive and status purposes.

What makes moated sites particularly intriguing is their relatively brief period of occupation; most were abandoned by the 15th century as political and social circumstances changed. The Anglo-Normans who built them were attempting to establish agricultural estates in areas that were often contested territory, and the moats provided both practical protection from raids and a psychological barrier between the settlers and the Gaelic Irish population. At Ardfry, the earthworks remain clearly visible despite centuries of weathering, offering a tangible connection to this turbulent period of Irish history.

Archaeological surveys suggest there may be hundreds of these sites across Ireland, though many have been lost to agricultural improvement or simply forgotten in the landscape. The Ardfry example survives as a grass-covered monument, its banks and ditches still discernible to the careful observer. These sites tell the story of medieval colonisation, cultural exchange, and eventual integration, as many Anglo-Norman families gradually adopted Irish customs and became, in the famous phrase, “more Irish than the Irish themselves”.