That distinction, small as it may sound, places it in a category of its own: the designed landscape feature, an element created or arranged intentionally, usually to serve the aesthetic ambitions of a nearby estate or demesne rather than any practical agricultural purpose.

Designed landscape features were a common enough pursuit among the landowning classes of eighteenth and nineteenth century Ireland, when the improvement of one's grounds was considered a mark of cultivation and taste. They could take many forms, from ornamental lakes and ha-has (sunken boundary walls that preserved a view without interrupting it with a visible fence) to artificial mounds, woodland walks, and strategically placed ruins. What survives at Clerhaun is noted as belonging to this tradition, though the specific form it takes and the particulars of who created it and when remain, for now, a matter for closer local inquiry.