This subrectangular enclosure, measuring roughly 40 metres north to south and 30 metres east to west, features a defensive fosse or ditch that once surrounded the settlement. The fosse, with its steep-sided, flat-bottomed profile, reaches depths of up to 1.7 metres and widths of around 2 metres, particularly along the northern and eastern sides where the defences were most substantial.

The site’s entrance, a 5.5-metre-wide gap at the western end of the southern side, still shows evidence of three shallow post-holes that likely supported a gate structure. Just east of this entrance, archaeologists discovered drystone wall-facing along approximately 8 metres of the inner northern face of the fosse, suggesting careful construction and maintenance of the defensive perimeter. Perhaps most intriguingly, a water channel or leat extends from near the southern end of the eastern fosse, running upslope for at least 64 metres towards natural springs in the higher ground to the east. This engineered water feature would have supplied the fosse with a steady water flow, transforming the ditch into a proper moat.

Within the protected confines of the moated site, excavations revealed the foundations of two medieval houses, providing glimpses into daily life at this defended homestead. While radiocarbon dating proved inconclusive, pottery fragments recovered from the site tell their own chronological story. The ceramics, dating to the 13th and 14th centuries, include imported Saintonge ware from western France alongside locally produced Cork ware, indicating both the site’s medieval occupation period and its inhabitants’ participation in broader trade networks. These moated sites, once relatively common across medieval Ireland, served as defended farmsteads for prosperous families, combining practical agricultural functions with defensive capabilities during an often turbulent period of Irish history.