An enclosure, in the broadest archaeological sense, is simply a defined area bounded by a bank, ditch, wall, or some combination of these, and the term covers an enormous range of human activity across several thousand years, from prehistoric settlements and early medieval farmsteads to ecclesiastical precincts and stock enclosures of much more recent date. The one at Ballyallia has been catalogued as a monument, which means someone, at some point, thought it significant enough to record.