That gap is itself a kind of fact. Ireland contains thousands of enclosures, ranging from the circular earthen raths and ringforts of the early medieval period to prehistoric field boundaries and later pastoral enclosures, and a significant number of them sit quietly in the landscape, noted but not yet narrated.

An enclosure, in the archaeological sense, refers broadly to any defined area bounded by a bank, ditch, wall, or combination of these, and the term covers an enormous range of functions and periods. Some enclosed settlements, some enclosed ritual spaces, and some simply kept animals in or predators out. The townland name Carrowmeer derives from the Irish an Cheathrú Mhór, meaning the large quarter, a unit of land division common across Connacht and parts of Munster, suggesting this part of Clare was organised and parcelled at some point in the medieval or early modern period. Whether the enclosure predates that system of division, or is connected to it, remains unrecorded in any available source.