This intriguing discovery came about in May 2009 when Chris Corlett spotted the feature whilst examining aerial photographs on the National Inventory of Architecture’s website. The site represents one of many such medieval earthworks scattered across the Irish landscape, where defensive moats once protected farmsteads and manor houses during the turbulent medieval period.

Moated sites like this one typically date from the 13th to 14th centuries, when Anglo-Norman settlers established fortified farmsteads throughout Leinster. The rectangular enclosure would have been surrounded by a water-filled ditch, providing both defence and drainage whilst also serving as a status symbol for its inhabitants. Though the above-ground structures have long since vanished, the filled-in moat continues to affect crop growth differently than the surrounding soil, creating the distinctive marks visible from above.

What makes this particular site noteworthy is how it demonstrates the power of modern technology in uncovering Ireland’s hidden past. Cropmarks are often invisible at ground level and only reveal themselves under specific conditions; dry weather, the right crops, and aerial photography at just the right angle. The site remains unexcavated and awaits further investigation, offering tantalising possibilities for what archaeological treasures might lie beneath the soil of this quiet Kildare field.