The river, which flows north to south just west of the enclosure, appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map from 1839, where the site is marked as a distinctive D-shaped enclosure. The northern edge seems to have been cut through by a later field boundary running east to west, giving it its current truncated appearance.

Though the site vanished from the 1900 revision of the OS maps, modern satellite imagery reveals its ghostly outline still pressed into the landscape. The levelled interior spans roughly 45 metres across, whilst the overall diameter, including the defensive earthworks, reaches about 65 metres. The outer fosse, or defensive ditch, remains particularly visible from above, its dark outline tracing the site’s original boundary like a shadow from the past.

The OS Letters of 1839 refer to this earthwork as ‘the Moat of Powerstown’, a name that hints at its most intriguing feature: a water-filled fosse that would have surrounded the enclosure. Given its proximity to the Powerstown River, it’s likely that water was diverted from the river to fill this defensive ditch, creating a formidable barrier that protected whatever structures once stood within. These moated sites were typically built by Anglo-Norman settlers or wealthy Irish families during the medieval period, serving as fortified homesteads that combined defence with displays of status and control over the surrounding landscape.