This square feature sits within a broad valley that runs from south to north, though today you’d be hard pressed to spot any trace of it whilst walking through the pasture that now covers the area. The site at Ballymorris represents what archaeologists believe may be a medieval moated site; a type of defended homestead that was particularly popular amongst Anglo-Norman settlers in Ireland during the 13th and 14th centuries.

Moated sites typically consisted of a raised platform surrounded by a water-filled ditch, upon which a timber hall or manor house would have stood. These weren’t military fortifications in the traditional sense, but rather status symbols and practical defensive measures for wealthy farming families. The moat would have provided protection from cattle raids and offered a degree of security during the politically unstable medieval period, whilst also serving the practical purpose of drainage in Ireland’s often waterlogged landscape.

The fact that this site only survives as a cropmark visible on historical maps rather than as an earthwork tells its own story about centuries of agricultural activity in the area. The Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford, published in 1996 and subsequently updated, catalogues this and hundreds of other sites that form the hidden medieval landscape of the county. Though invisible to the casual observer today, these ghost imprints on old maps remind us that the peaceful Irish countryside was once dotted with these moated farmsteads, each one a small centre of Anglo-Norman life and agriculture.