First recorded on the Ordnance Survey maps of 1841 and 1910, this subrectangular enclosure measures approximately 45 metres from northeast to southeast and 40 metres from northwest to southeast. The site represents one of many such defensive earthworks that once dotted the Irish countryside during the Anglo-Norman period, when colonists built fortified farmsteads surrounded by water-filled ditches for protection.

Moated sites like this one at Colt were typically constructed between the 13th and 14th centuries, serving as defended homesteads for Anglo-Norman settlers or wealthy Irish families who adopted Norman building practices. The moat, essentially a wide, water-filled ditch, would have enclosed a raised platform where timber or stone buildings stood; these might have included a hall, agricultural buildings, and living quarters. The choice of low-lying, marshy ground for this particular site was strategic, as the naturally wet conditions would have kept the defensive moat filled year-round without requiring extensive water management systems.

Today, whilst no surface features remain visible to the casual observer, the site’s archaeological significance endures. Its documentation in the Archaeological Inventory of County Laois, compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran in 1995, ensures that this piece of medieval Irish heritage remains part of the historical record. The site serves as a reminder of how the medieval landscape of Laois was once organised; a patchwork of defended settlements that speak to centuries of cultural exchange, conflict, and adaptation between Gaelic Irish and Anglo-Norman communities.