That combination, official recognition alongside near-total silence, is itself a kind of footnote to how unevenly the Irish landscape has been catalogued.

Enclosures of this kind appear throughout Connacht in a variety of forms, ranging from the circular earthen ringforts, known as raths, that served as enclosed farmsteads during the early medieval period, to later ecclesiastical or defensive enclosures defined by stone walls or banks. Without further detail it is not possible to say which category the Ranamackan example falls into, how large it is, how well preserved, or what period it belongs to. Ranamackan itself is a small rural townland, and like many such places in Galway it sits within a landscape that has been farmed and settled across many centuries, accumulating layers of use that are only partially visible above ground.