Field systems, in the archaeological sense, are the remains of ancient land divisions, boundaries, and enclosures that predate the familiar pattern of post-medieval Irish farmland. They can be prehistoric, early medieval, or later, and they are often only legible as low earthen banks, subtle changes in ground level, or alignments that cut against the grain of the modern countryside.

The Lisduggan field system is recorded in the Archaeological Inventory of County Cork, the fourth volume of which covers north Cork and was published in 2000. Beyond its inclusion in that catalogue, the surviving documentation is sparse, which itself says something about how quietly such features persist, noted but not elaborated upon, mapped but seldom visited with any particular intent.