First documented in detail during the 1940s by archaeologist O’Kelly, this rectangular earthwork monument measures roughly 33 metres north to south and 36 metres east to west. Though centuries of farming have reduced its once imposing banks to barely 30 centimetres in height, the site’s distinctive form remains readable in the landscape, particularly from above where modern satellite imagery reveals the ghostly outline of its defensive ditch system.

The monument consists of a raised rectangular platform that would have once been completely surrounded by a water-filled fosse, or defensive ditch. Time and agriculture have erased the northern and western sections of this moat, but the eastern and southern portions remain visible to the trained eye. A curious break in the southwest corner of the earthwork likely marks the original entrance, where medieval inhabitants would have crossed into the enclosed space, perhaps over a simple wooden bridge. The interruption in the fosse at this point supports this interpretation, suggesting a deliberate design feature rather than later damage.

These moated sites, found scattered across the Irish countryside, were typically built by Anglo-Norman settlers or prosperous Irish families between the 13th and 15th centuries. They served as defended homesteads; not quite castles, but certainly more than ordinary farms. The Oldtown example, though never marked on Ordnance Survey maps despite its archaeological significance, continues to intrigue researchers. Modern technology has breathed new life into its study, with Digital Globe aerial photographs revealing cropmarks that trace the monument’s full extent, visible as subtle variations in vegetation growth where the ancient ditches once channelled water around this medieval stronghold.