This rectangular enclosure, measuring approximately 15 metres east to west and 12 metres north to south, represents a type of defensive settlement that once dotted the Irish countryside, particularly during the Anglo-Norman period from the 12th to 14th centuries.

What makes this site particularly intriguing is its near invisibility to historical record keeping. Despite the meticulous surveys conducted for the Ordnance Survey 6-inch maps, which documented Ireland’s landscape in extraordinary detail throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, this moated site never made it onto any edition. It wasn’t until aerial photography revealed its distinctive rectangular outline that the site’s existence was properly documented. Today, the earthworks have been largely levelled, leaving only irregular traces visible at ground level; subtle undulations in the grass that hint at the defensive banks and ditches that once protected whatever structure stood within.

Moated sites like this one typically belonged to Anglo-Norman colonists or Gaelicised Norman families who needed defensible homesteads in what was often contested territory. The moat itself would have been a water-filled ditch, fed perhaps by the nearby lake, surrounding a raised platform where a timber hall or tower house once stood. While grander castles dominated strategic locations, these smaller fortified sites served as the backbone of medieval settlement patterns, housing minor lords, prosperous farmers, or estate managers who required protection but couldn’t afford stone fortifications.