The stream that bordered it flows eastward for about 200 metres before joining the River Martin, providing what would have been a strategic water source for this fortified settlement. When the Ordnance Survey mapped the area in 1904, they recorded the site with hachured markings, their standard notation for earthwork features that were already ancient by Victorian standards.

Moated sites like this one were typically built between the 13th and 14th centuries by Anglo-Norman settlers and wealthy Anglo-Irish families who needed defendable homesteads in what was often contested territory. The moat, usually a water-filled ditch surrounding a raised platform, would have protected a timber or stone house, along with various outbuildings for livestock and storage. These weren’t grand castles but rather practical fortified farms; think of them as the medieval equivalent of a secure compound where a family could live, farm, and defend themselves from raids.

Today, nothing visible remains of Knocknalyre’s moated site; the earthworks have been completely levelled and houses now stand where medieval settlers once lived behind their protective ditches. This transformation from fortified farmstead to modern housing development tells its own story about how Ireland’s landscape has changed over the centuries, with ancient defensive structures giving way to peaceful suburban life. The site’s details come from the Archaeological Inventory of County Cork, Volume 3, published in 1997, with updates added as recently as 2009 to reflect ongoing research into these fascinating remnants of medieval Irish life.