At Ballyfoyle, aerial photographs taken by Cambridge University have revealed the ghostly outline of what appears to be a rectangular enclosure, its boundaries traced by darker crop patterns in the fields. These cropmarks, which show up particularly well in photograph GB89.X.04, reveal a structure with rounded corners defined by what archaeologists call a fosse; essentially a defensive ditch that would have surrounded the site.

Today, you won’t find any stones or earthworks if you walk across these fields; the surface remains have long since disappeared, ploughed away or reclaimed by the landscape over centuries. What makes this site particularly interesting is its possible connection to medieval Ireland’s moated sites, fortified farmsteads that were typically built by Anglo-Norman settlers from the 13th century onwards. These weren’t castles in the traditional sense, but rather defended homesteads where colonist families could farm whilst maintaining some protection from potential raids.

The site was first properly documented in the Archaeological Inventory of County Laois in 1995, compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. Since then, ongoing research has continued to shed light on these hidden remnants of Ireland’s medieval past, though the Ballyfoyle enclosure keeps many of its secrets. Without excavation, it’s impossible to date the site precisely or determine whether it was indeed a moated site, an earlier ringfort, or something else entirely; a reminder that Ireland’s archaeological heritage often lies hidden just beneath the surface of ordinary looking fields.