Almost, but not quite. On aerial photographs, a faint circular cropmark about thirty metres across betrays the outline of a rath, a type of ringfort defined by an earthen bank and a surrounding ditch, or fosse. At ground level there is nothing obvious to see; it is only from the air that the ghost of the enclosure becomes legible, drawn in the differential growth of crops responding to the disturbed soil beneath them.

Raths were the most common form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, built and occupied roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. A typical example consisted of a raised circular area enclosed by one or more earthen banks, with the fosse dug to provide material for the bank. Inside, a family would have kept their house, animals, and stores. The Moortown Little example appears to have had a single fosse, placing it at the simpler end of the spectrum. Its position on a slight west-facing slope is characteristic of the practical logic that governed where these enclosures were sited, offering some shelter and drainage while keeping the interior reasonably dry.