The name is an obvious clue, and it points to something that would have been a deliberate and commercially minded piece of land management several centuries ago: a managed rabbit warren. Warrens of this kind were not accidental tangles of burrows but enclosed, carefully maintained spaces where rabbits were bred for their meat and fur. They were a recognisable feature of medieval and early modern estates across Britain and Ireland, and their presence in a landscape almost always indicates a degree of organisation and resource planning that tends to get overshadowed by grander monuments.

The earliest documentary record of this particular warren comes from the Civil Survey of 1654 to 1656, a comprehensive assessment of Irish landholding carried out in the aftermath of the Cromwellian conquest. The survey, compiled by Robert Simington and referenced at page 174 of the relevant volume, notes a small warren at Baldoyle. The Civil Survey is one of the most detailed sources available for understanding Irish land use in the mid-seventeenth century, recording not just ownership but the practical features of estates, including mills, orchards, and, in this case, a warren. That such a modest feature was considered worth noting at all speaks to how economically significant rabbit farming remained at the time. Whether the warren was already old by the 1650s or was a relatively recent addition to the estate is not recorded.

The likely location, based on that persistent field name, is near the coast at the south-eastern corner of the Baldoyle townland. The 1979 OS six-inch edition is the source for 'Burrrow Field', the slightly irregular spelling preserved on the map as it appeared. Anyone curious enough to investigate would be working primarily from cartographic evidence rather than any visible earthworks, since managed warrens rarely leave dramatic traces above ground. The area sits within what is now a largely suburban stretch of north County Dublin, between Baldoyle village and the estuary, so the landscape has changed considerably. The field name itself may no longer appear on current maps, making the 1979 edition a useful reference point for anyone trying to pin down the general area.