These cropmarks appear when buried features, in this case the circular ditches of an early medieval enclosure, cause the soil above them to retain or drain moisture differently from the surrounding ground, producing subtle variations in colour and height in whatever is planted above. The result is a ghost of a settlement that vanishes at ground level entirely.

Aerial photographs have revealed two concentric features here. The inner enclosure measures roughly 45 to 50 metres in diameter, defined by a fosse, the term used for the rock-cut or earthen ditch that typically surrounded a rath, which is the Irish word for a ringfort. These were the farmsteads of early medieval Ireland, occupied roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, where a single family and their livestock lived within a banked and ditched boundary. The outer feature, visible across the southern, western, and northern arc, brings the total external diameter to around 80 metres, suggesting a double-ditched enclosure, a form sometimes associated with higher-status settlements. The site sits on a gentle south-east facing slope, with a stream running roughly north to south about 80 metres to the east, a placement consistent with the practical logic of early Irish farming, where slight elevation, good drainage, and water nearby were all desirable.