This rectangular moated site at Newtown measures approximately 30 metres on each side, defined by impressively wide, flat-bottomed moats that once provided defensive protection. The moats themselves are substantial features, spanning 12 to 19 metres across at the top and 8 to 10 metres at their base, with depths varying from half a metre on the interior side to up to 1.5 metres on the exterior.

The site’s northern boundary tells a story of agricultural change; here the original moat has been lost to an east-west field bank, likely removed during centuries of farming activity. Within the grass-covered interior platform sits evidence of past excavation in the form of a large but shallow quarry pit measuring 19 metres east to west and about 10 metres north to south, though at only half a metre to a metre deep, it appears more like a gentle depression in the landscape today.

What makes this site particularly intriguing is its phantom-like quality; whilst invisible on Ordnance Survey maps, it reveals itself clearly in aerial photographs from the Geological Survey Ireland collection. No visible entrance survives, leaving questions about how the medieval inhabitants accessed their defended homestead. Such moated sites were typically built by Anglo-Norman settlers or prosperous farmers between the 13th and 14th centuries, creating small defended farmsteads surrounded by water-filled ditches that served both as status symbols and practical defences against cattle raiders and local unrest.