This rectangular enclosure, measuring 24 metres north to south and 30 metres east to west, would have provided both status and security to its inhabitants during the Anglo-Norman period. The site is defined by a substantial earth and stone bank, roughly three metres wide, which rises between half a metre and 1.5 metres in height depending on where you measure it. A defensive ditch, or fosse, about 1.5 metres wide, can still be traced along the northern perimeter, though time has obscured it elsewhere.

The location was carefully chosen; the rising ground provided natural drainage and a commanding view of the surrounding landscape, whilst a nearby ringfort to the east suggests this area had been considered strategically important for centuries. A gap in the defensive bank at the northeast corner, approximately two metres wide, likely marks the original entrance to the enclosure. Such moated sites were typically built by Anglo-Norman settlers or Gaelicised Norman families between the 13th and 15th centuries, serving as fortified farmsteads that demonstrated their owners’ social standing whilst offering practical defence against raids.

Today, the Glennanoge site stands as one of many such earthworks scattered across the Irish countryside, each telling a story of medieval life when security concerns shaped even domestic architecture. The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary, compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O’Brien, has documented this site alongside hundreds of others, helping to preserve knowledge of these often overlooked monuments that dot the rural landscape.