And yet the outline of an early medieval farmstead is still readable here if you know what you are looking for, which is precisely what makes it quietly compelling.

A rath, the most common type of Irish ringfort, was typically a circular or oval enclosure defined by an earthen bank and external ditch, enclosing the dwelling and outbuildings of a farming family during the early medieval period, roughly the fifth to twelfth centuries. The Carrowntreila example was recorded on Ordnance Survey maps of both 1838 and 1930 as an oval embanked enclosure measuring approximately 35 metres northwest to southeast and 30 metres northeast to southwest. By the time of the 1930 edition, a field boundary was already being drawn across the northwestern third of the enclosure, and at some point since then the earthworks were levelled entirely. That field fence still runs across the site today, and it has effectively bisected the rath's memory. To the northwest of the fence, the ground gives almost nothing away, only a faint rise immediately beside the fence line. To the southeast, however, the outline of a slightly raised semicircular area, some 31.6 metres across at its widest, remains perceptible as a subtle change in the lie of the land. It represents roughly the surviving two thirds of the original enclosure. A second possible rath lies around 60 metres to the northwest, hinting that this low ridge may once have supported a small cluster of adjacent farmsteads rather than a single isolated one.