What looks at first like a series of ordinary field boundaries resolves, on closer inspection, into something far older and considerably stranger: a settlement that may have functioned as a royal residence, a ceremonial site, and a place of privileged burial, all at once, on the same modest hill.

The hill goes by at least two names with quite different implications. The current Irish form, Cnoc Aodha, means Hill of Hugh, but the older name, Mullach Cáe, is said by some to mean Hill of Fire. Folklore gathered from Knockea National School and recorded in the Dúchas Schools Collection (Volume 0525) links the site to St Patrick, who is said to have been feasted here by Lomán, King of the district. A ninth or tenth century text, the Tripartite Life of Patrick, tells the story in detail: a young man named Nessán arrived carrying a cooked ram on his mother's back, destined for the king's feast. Patrick, pressed by a group of travelling jugglers who needed food, asked the boy to give up the ram. Nessán agreed immediately; his mother was more reluctant, fearing the king's displeasure. Patrick subsequently baptised Nessán, ordained him deacon, and founded a church for him at Mungret, just outside Limerick city. The king Lomán and a deacon called Mantán, who had refused to help Patrick, received rather sharper prophecies about the futures of their lineages. Writing in 1826, Fitzgerald described the hill as appearing to have been strongly fortified, with square and round buildings enclosed by a dry fosse, a rampart of earth and stone around the entire hill, and quantities of human bones and iron instruments turned up by digging. Excavations carried out by O'Kelly in 1960 uncovered a rath, a roughly circular earthen enclosure of the kind common across early medieval Ireland, and a separate burial enclosure, both tentatively dated to the Early Christian period. A re-evaluation by Talbot in 2019 identified at least three main zones across the site, with the eastern zone being the most intensively used. The largest individual enclosure in that zone, E3, measures 57.3 metres north to south and uses the cliff edge itself as its eastern boundary in place of a constructed bank. Nearby to the south, a cairn and a standing stone have also been recorded.

The complex sits on rolling pasture and is best appreciated from the hill itself, where the south-facing aspect opens up views across the surrounding countryside. The earthwork banks are grassed over and merge with modern field boundaries in places, which means the site requires some patience to interpret on the ground. Aerial photographs taken in 1968 and 2000 show the enclosures and hollow ways with considerably more clarity than a ground-level visit alone can provide; consulting these beforehand gives a useful sense of the overall plan before walking the slope. A cairn and standing stone lie to the south of the main complex and are worth noting on any visit to the area.