This defensive settlement, dating from the Anglo-Norman period, occupies a commanding position above the surrounding landscape, with a stream flowing to the east. The site appears on the 1841 Ordnance Survey map as a near-rectangular enclosure measuring approximately 50 metres north to south and 45 metres east to west.

Today, visitors can still trace the outline of this ancient fortification, though time has softened its once-formidable defences. The southern section preserves the clearest evidence of the original structure, where an earthen bank roughly 3.5 metres wide rises about 30 centimetres above the interior and 90 centimetres above the exterior ground level. Outside this bank runs a defensive ditch, or fosse, measuring nearly 3 metres across. Whilst the western and northern sides retain visible traces of the earthwork bank, the remainder of the site shows no obvious surface features.

These moated sites were typically built by Anglo-Norman colonists or wealthy Irish families between the 13th and 14th centuries, serving as fortified farmsteads rather than true castles. The combination of raised banks and water-filled ditches provided security for the inhabitants and their livestock whilst demonstrating their status in the local community. Archaeological records for this particular site were compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran for the Archaeological Inventory of County Laois, published in 1995, with updates reflecting more recent research into these fascinating medieval monuments.