The earthen ramparts, which reach heights of up to 2.25 metres on the interior side, create a distinctive enclosed space that slopes gently away to the north, east, and west. A defensive ditch, or fosse, can still be traced along the northern edge, whilst a 3.5-metre-wide gap halfway along the north bank marks what was likely the original entrance, complete with a visible causeway.

This intriguing site at Tinageragh represents what archaeologists call a moated site, though locals would have known it by the Irish term ‘lios’. Writing in 1916, the antiquarian Power noted that this particular square lios was stone-lined, suggesting that beneath the grass-covered banks lie carefully placed stones that once reinforced the earthwork’s structure. Such moated sites are characteristic of Anglo-Norman settlement patterns in medieval Ireland, typically dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, when colonists built these defended farmsteads across the countryside.

The monument’s significance is reflected in its protected status; it has been subject to a preservation order since 1975 under the National Monuments Acts. Though time and farming have softened its edges, the site remains a remarkable survivor from medieval Cork, offering visitors a tangible connection to the county’s complex colonial past when Norman settlers and Gaelic Irish communities lived side by side, each leaving their mark on the landscape.