The site appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map from 1840, where it’s marked as a rectangular enclosure with a distinctively rounded southwestern corner. Today, visitors to the location will discover only a hollow depression in the ground, a subtle reminder of the defensive structure that once stood here.

Moated sites like this one were typically built between the 13th and 14th centuries, serving as fortified farmsteads for Anglo-Norman settlers or prosperous Irish families. The moat, which would have been water-filled, provided both defence and a statement of status in medieval society. The rectangular shape with one rounded end suggests this was likely a fairly typical example of these rural strongholds, which dotted the Irish landscape during the later medieval period.

While little remains visible above ground, the site at Garraun forms part of a broader pattern of medieval settlement across North Tipperary. Archaeological surveys have identified numerous similar sites throughout the county, each contributing to our understanding of how people lived, farmed, and defended their holdings during a turbulent period in Irish history. The hollow depression that marks the site today may not look like much, but it represents centuries of human occupation and the changing fortunes of medieval Ireland.