The enclosure at Killemly shows up as an irregular cropmark on an aerial image captured in July 1970, one of those ghostly signatures left in ripening grain or parched grass when buried features alter how soil retains moisture. At ground level, there is nothing to see. The land is flat, reclaimed pasture sitting within gently undulating terrain, and a second possible enclosure lies roughly forty metres to the south, equally invisible to anyone walking the field.

In 1999, ahead of route selection for the proposed Cahir Eastern Relief Road, a partial excavation was carried out to test what lay beneath. What the diggers found was suggestive but frustratingly incomplete. A modern drainage ditch and agricultural furrows had already disturbed the ground, cutting through what appeared to be a circular feature, possible post-holes, and a carefully laid stone or cobble surface. A curving ditch was also uncovered, possibly the fosse, which is the defining boundary ditch of an enclosure, and its fills were laced with charcoal flecking, hinting at burning or prolonged occupation at some point. There were, however, no datable finds, meaning the site cannot be assigned to any particular period with confidence. Crucially, excavators could not establish with certainty how the features uncovered during testing related to the two cropmark enclosures visible in the 1970 photograph. The ground had been read, but it had not given a clear answer.