This rectangular earthwork measures approximately 51 metres from east to west and 41 metres from north to south, with its perimeter defined by a substantial earthen bank that still rises to about 1.7 metres in height. These defensive features are characteristic of the fortified homesteads built across Ireland during the Anglo-Norman period, typically dating from the 13th to 14th centuries.

Moated sites like this one served as defended farmsteads for Anglo-Norman settlers and wealthy Irish families during the medieval period. The raised earthen banks would have originally been topped with wooden palisades, whilst the moat itself; now likely filled in or dried up; provided both defensive capability and drainage for the enclosed area. Within these protected boundaries, timber-framed houses, agricultural buildings, and storage facilities would have stood, creating self-sufficient compounds that could withstand raids and local conflicts.

Though grass now covers the banks and cattle likely graze where medieval inhabitants once lived and worked, the site remains a tangible connection to Cork’s medieval landscape. Archaeological surveys conducted in the 1980s, particularly Walsh’s comprehensive study in 1985, have helped document and preserve knowledge of these rural monuments. The Coolowen site, recorded in the Archaeological Inventory of County Cork, represents one of many such earthworks scattered across the Irish countryside; silent witnesses to centuries of agricultural life, local power struggles, and the gradual transformation of the Irish landscape.