The rectangular enclosure, measuring approximately 43 metres northwest to southeast and 42 metres southwest to northeast, shows up as a cropmark on Google Earth photographs from July 2018. These marks in the vegetation reveal where ancient ditches and earthworks once stood, their filled-in channels affecting how crops grow above them centuries later. A distinctive entrance gap on the eastern side suggests this was once a formal gateway into the enclosure.

Moated sites like this one were typically built between the 13th and 14th centuries, often serving as fortified homesteads for Anglo-Norman settlers or prosperous farmers. The moat, which would have been filled with water, provided both defensive capabilities and a display of status; not everyone could afford to dig and maintain such an elaborate water feature around their home. The square or rectangular shape is characteristic of these medieval sites, which differed from the circular ringforts favoured by the earlier Gaelic Irish population.

Though the site appears to have been levelled over time, leaving only these subtle traces visible from above, it represents an important piece of Wicklow’s medieval landscape. The discovery, compiled by Caimin O’Brien with details from Faith Bailey, adds to our understanding of settlement patterns during a transformative period in Irish history, when Norman influences were reshaping both the physical and social landscape of the region.