This rectangular earthwork, measuring 44 metres from west-northwest to east-southeast and nearly 32 metres from north-northeast to south-southwest, represents a type of defensive settlement that was once common across the Irish countryside. The site is defined by earthen banks that rise between 2 and 3 metres wide, creating an enclosed area now covered with grass and rushes. These banks stand about 30 to 50 centimetres high on the interior side, whilst their exterior faces are considerably more imposing at roughly a metre in height.

What makes this site particularly intriguing is its surrounding moat system, a flat-bottomed ditch that encircles the earthwork. The moat varies between 6 and 7 metres wide at its top, narrowing to between 2.6 and 4 metres at the base, though it’s relatively shallow at just 30 centimetres deep today; likely much deeper when first constructed. A single entrance breaks the eastern side of the enclosure, where a narrow gap of 1.7 metres opens onto a 6-metre-wide causeway that would have provided the only dry access to the interior. This careful design suggests the site served both defensive and residential purposes, typical of moated sites that proliferated in Ireland during the Anglo-Norman period.

Adding to the archaeological significance of the area, another moated site sits just 80 metres to the west-southwest, suggesting this ridge was once home to a small cluster of medieval settlements. These paired sites offer valuable insights into how communities organised themselves in medieval Roscommon, possibly representing related family groups or a small manor complex with its associated holdings. The preservation of these earthworks allows visitors to trace the footprint of structures that have long since vanished, reading the landscape much as one might read a historical document.