That gap is itself a kind of curiosity. Ireland's countryside holds hundreds of such enclosures, a broad category covering everything from early medieval ringforts, which were enclosed farmsteads typically bounded by an earthen bank and ditch, to later field systems, animal pounds, or ceremonial enclosures of considerable antiquity. Which of these Knockanush represents remains, for now, an open question.

The townland name itself offers a small clue to the texture of the place. Knockanush derives from the Irish, most likely meaning something close to the hill of the ash trees, suggesting a landscape that was once at least partially wooded. Kerry's archaeological record is dense, particularly in the peninsulas and upland areas where blanket bog has preserved features that elsewhere were long ago ploughed away or built over. Enclosures in such settings sometimes turn out to be associated with souterrains, underground stone-lined passages often connected to early medieval settlements, or with field boundaries that predate the current pattern of land use by a thousand years or more. Without further documentation, the Knockanush enclosure holds its place quietly among these possibilities.