Tree-rings, sometimes called ring plantations, were a characteristic element of designed landscapes on Irish estates from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, typically arranged in a circle or oval on a prominence to create a focal point visible from a house or pleasure ground. They were ornamental rather than practical, a way of imposing a sense of order and aesthetic ambition on open ground.

Beyond its presence at Knockbarry, the specific history of this feature, who planted it, which estate it belonged to, and when it was laid out, is not fully documented in available sources. What can be said is that Cork was home to numerous landed estates during the Georgian and Victorian periods, many of which invested considerably in the shaping of their surrounding parkland. Tree-rings were one of several devices, alongside ha-has, walled gardens, and ornamental water, that signalled a proprietor's awareness of fashionable landscape design. That this example survives at all is worth noting; many such plantings have been lost to agricultural clearance or simple neglect over the intervening generations.