It is the kind of feature that most people would walk past without a second thought, a line of stones or earthwork that reads simply as the edge of a field, and yet its protected status signals that something about it warranted closer attention at some point.

Field boundaries of this type are among the most common and most overlooked survivals in the Irish countryside. They can date from almost any period, from the Bronze Age field systems preserved beneath blanket bog, to early medieval enclosures, to the large-scale reorganisation of land that followed the clearances and plantation eras. Without further detail specific to the Gannoughs example, it is not possible to say with confidence which period this particular boundary belongs to, or what form it takes on the ground. What can be said is that Gannoughs, as a placename, is rooted in the Irish townland system, the basic unit of land division in Ireland that predates the Norman period and in many cases reflects even older patterns of settlement and use. The boundary may mark something as straightforward as a medieval or post-medieval farm division, or it may preserve the outline of something considerably older.