Enclosures of this kind, broadly speaking, are among the most common yet most varied monuments in the Irish countryside. They range from early medieval ringforts, which served as enclosed farmsteads for a family and their livestock, to ecclesiastical enclosures that once marked out the sacred ground of an early Christian settlement. The name Kiltaan itself carries a suggestion of the latter: the Irish prefix "cill" typically denotes a church or monastic cell, which may or may not hint at what once stood within or near this particular boundary.