But this particular earthwork, sitting on the western side of a stream in a townland called Desert, carries a detail that shifts its meaning considerably: local tradition holds that it may once have been a flax retting pond, a purpose that has nothing obviously to do with the kind of enclosure an archaeologist would normally investigate.

Flax retting was a common, if pungent, stage in linen production across rural Ireland. Harvested flax stems were submerged in water for days or weeks, allowing bacteria to break down the plant material surrounding the useful fibres. Dedicated ponds or channels were often constructed or adapted for the purpose, and the water channel on the southern side of this enclosure, connecting directly to the nearby stream, would suit that function well. The enclosure itself is roughly oval, measuring around thirty metres north to south and twenty metres east to west, enclosed by a substantial earthen bank. It appears on both the 1902 and 1936 Ordnance Survey six-inch maps under the name Knockeemroe, hachured as an oval feature even then. Whether it began as a much earlier earthwork and was later pressed into agricultural use, or whether it was always what local memory suggests, is not recorded. The two possibilities sit unresolved beside each other, which is part of what makes the place quietly interesting.