This impressive motte rises 4.8 metres high with an oval-shaped summit measuring 27 metres from northeast to southwest. The builders cleverly carved into the natural hillock to create a distinctive stepped defensive profile, with two berms encircling the structure at different levels. The inner berm, 8 metres wide, wraps around the motte’s base and is defined by an earthen bank, whilst a second, wider berm encircles the entire hillock. Unfortunately, quarrying operations to the north and east have damaged portions of the outer defences and may have destroyed any original bailey that once stood there.

The monument sits strategically above a narrow, deep ravine running 85 metres to the south, with the summit of Benduff visible 1.4 kilometres away and the Devilsbit Mountain range forming a dramatic backdrop to the southeast. According to historical accounts, this motte was positioned along the ancient route of the Slighe Dhála, one of Ireland’s five great roads radiating from Tara. Two ringforts lie nearby, adding to the area’s rich archaeological landscape. A shallow depression atop the motte hints at a former structure, possibly the mysterious ‘Clonecannanane castle’ mentioned in the Civil Survey of 1654-56, which described it as one of six castles ‘out of all manner of repayre’ in the parish of Aghnameadle.

The historical records raise intriguing questions about what exactly stood here. Whilst the Down Survey barony map depicts a castle in Cloncannon townland, and the Civil Survey confirms a castle existed on these lands alongside a mill seat on the Ollatrim brook, no stone castle remains are visible today. It’s possible that a stone fortification once crowned the motte’s summit, though the castle shown on historical maps might alternatively refer to a nearby moated site. Whatever structures once stood here, the monument has been deemed significant enough to warrant preservation orders in both 1984 and 1996, protecting this evocative reminder of Norman influence in medieval Tipperary.