That it survives at all as a recognised monument, protected under the National Monuments Acts, says something about how seriously the Irish state regards the designed landscapes of the landed gentry, even the quieter, more functional corners of them.

The park sits roughly 400 metres south-west of Kilcooly Abbey House and about 300 metres south-east of Kilcooly Abbey itself, a Cistercian foundation whose presence lent the surrounding estate much of its atmosphere and prestige. The deer park is recorded on the first edition six-inch Ordnance Survey map of 1840, which places its existence firmly in the landscape by that date, but its origins are thought to be somewhat earlier. According to Neely (2005), it was most likely introduced as an ornamental feature during the eighteenth century, either around 1760 when the house was built, or during a later phase of re-landscaping towards the end of that century. Deer parks of this kind were not primarily about hunting in the medieval sense; by the Georgian period they had become markers of taste and wealth, designed features that signalled a landowner's ambition to shape the natural world around his residence into something legible as civilised and composed.