This flat-topped earthwork, measuring 17 metres across at its base and 8 metres at its summit, was constructed sometime after the Norman invasion of Ireland as the centre of a holding that owed half a knight's fee in service to the powerful Bigod family. The motte sits just 15 metres east of what is now a canalised stream and lies within the bounds of an early ecclesiastical enclosure, suggesting this spot held significance long before the Normans arrived.

The Kilcowan estate passed through various hands over the centuries, with records showing Peter Keting held it in wardship in 1247, followed by Nicholas de Ketyng in 1307. The motte would have originally supported a wooden tower or keep on its summit, serving as both a defensive structure and a symbol of Norman authority in the region. However, its importance diminished around the time a more substantial stone castle was built approximately 220 metres to the north-northeast, likely offering better accommodation and defensive capabilities than the earlier motte-and-bailey arrangement.

Today, the mound stands overgrown with scrub, its summit marred by an excavated pit, and notably lacks the defensive ditch or fosse that typically surrounded such structures. Despite its weathered state, this earthwork remains a tangible link to the Norman transformation of the Irish landscape, when new lords imposed their authority through a network of mottes, baileys, and later stone castles across the countryside they sought to control.