Though invisible at ground level, this mysterious feature was captured as a cropmark in an aerial photograph taken by Dr. D. D. C. Pochin Mould in 1979, revealing the ghostly outline of what appears to be a moated site at Cloghlucas North.

The site sits within a field that forms part of a larger area of about 13 acres, collectively known to locals as the ‘Castle Field’. This intriguing name hints at a deeper history; documents from the 16th and 17th centuries mention an ‘old castle’ at Cloughlucas, though its exact location remains unknown. Whether this referred to the moated site visible from the air, or to another structure entirely, continues to puzzle historians and archaeologists alike.

Moated sites like this one were typically constructed during the medieval period, often serving as fortified farmsteads or manor houses surrounded by water-filled ditches for defence. The fact that this particular enclosure can only be detected through aerial photography demonstrates how centuries of agricultural activity can completely obscure substantial archaeological features, leaving only subtle differences in crop growth to mark where walls and ditches once stood.