This rectangular earthwork, measuring approximately 40 by 30 metres, consists of a raised platform surrounded by a water-filled ditch; a defensive feature that would have protected a timber-framed dwelling and its outbuildings. These moated sites, which proliferated across Ireland between the 13th and 14th centuries, were typically constructed by Anglo-Norman colonists and prosperous Irish families seeking to establish fortified farmsteads in the countryside.

The Raheenarran site follows the classic design of these rural strongholds, with its platform elevated roughly two metres above the surrounding landscape and encircled by a moat that would have been fed by local streams or springs. Archaeological evidence from similar sites suggests that the central platform would have supported a hall house, agricultural buildings, and perhaps a small chapel, all constructed from locally sourced timber and wattle-and-daub. The moat served multiple purposes: defence against raids, drainage for the living area, a source of fish, and importantly, a status symbol that distinguished these settlements from ordinary farms.

Today, the earthworks remain clearly visible in the landscape, though centuries of agricultural activity have softened their edges and filled in portions of the moat. The site represents one of hundreds of such fortified farmsteads scattered across the Irish midlands and south-east, monuments to a period when the countryside was dotted with these modest but effective defensive homesteads. Their proliferation in counties like Kilkenny reflects the region’s importance as a frontier zone where Gaelic Irish, Anglo-Norman, and later English settlement patterns overlapped and competed for control of productive agricultural land.