Enclosures of this kind are among the most common yet most ambiguous features of the Irish countryside. They can represent the remains of a ringfort, a defended farmstead from the early medieval period, a burial ground, or a livestock enclosure, and without excavation or detailed survey it is often impossible to say which. Their earthen banks and ditches have a way of blending into field boundaries and hedgerows over centuries, overlooked by neighbours and passing walkers alike.

Ashglen is a small rural townland, and the enclosure it contains is currently one of many monuments recorded across Ireland whose fuller details remain unavailable to the general public. What is known is that it has been formally identified as an archaeological site worthy of protection, which places it in the company of thousands of similar features scattered across Kilkenny and the surrounding counties. The midlands and south-east of Ireland are particularly dense with such remains, a reflection of long and layered agricultural settlement stretching back well into prehistory.