This rectangular enclosure, measuring roughly 60 metres from north-northeast to south-southwest, first appeared on the 1841 Ordnance Survey six-inch map, marked with the distinctive hachured lines that cartographers used to indicate earthwork features. By the time the 1909 edition was published, the site was still recorded, though today no trace remains visible on the ground.

Moated sites like this one were a common feature of the medieval Irish landscape, particularly from the 13th to 14th centuries. These fortified farmsteads typically consisted of a rectangular platform surrounded by a water-filled ditch or moat, providing both defence and drainage for the dwelling within. In Anglo-Norman areas of Ireland, they often marked the homes of prosperous farmers or minor lords; substantial enough to warrant protection, but not wealthy enough for a stone castle. The moat would have been crossed by a simple timber bridge, whilst the platform itself likely supported a timber hall and associated farm buildings.

The disappearance of Ballintlea’s moated site tells a familiar story across the Irish countryside, where centuries of agricultural improvement and land reclamation have erased many medieval earthworks. What once stood as a prominent defensive feature in the landscape has been completely levelled, its ditches filled and platform ploughed flat. Only through the meticulous work of early Ordnance Survey mapmakers and modern archaeological inventories do we know it ever existed at all; a reminder that Ireland’s historical landscape often lies hidden beneath the surface of today’s fields.