These circular earthwork enclosures, known in Irish as raths, were the predominant form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, roughly from the fifth to the twelfth century. Typically defined by one or more banks of earth and accompanying ditches, they served as farmsteads for families of varying social rank, and tens of thousands of them survive across the island in varying states of preservation. That so many remain at all is partly due to a longstanding folk belief that they were the dwelling places of the sí, the supernatural beings of Irish tradition, and that disturbing them brought misfortune.

Knockaluskraun is a townland in Clare, a county whose geology and land use patterns have preserved a notable density of early medieval remains. The name Knockaluskraun itself is an anglicisation of Irish, with the element cnoc pointing to a hill or elevated ground, a feature that would have made a site strategically useful for a farming household seeking visibility over surrounding territory. Beyond the fort's existence and location, the documentary record currently available offers little further detail about its date, condition, or the specifics of its construction.