The example at Gortagowan, tucked into rough grazing land between Knockanamadane and Derrygarriff mountains on the eastern side of the Tahilla river, belongs to that more elaborate category, and its setting gives it a particular quality. From within the inner bank, Kenmare Bay opens out to the south, a view that whoever chose this location almost certainly factored into the decision.

A rath, to give the site its Irish term, is essentially a circular enclosure formed from an earthen bank and a surrounding ditch called a fosse, and in early medieval Ireland such enclosures typically served as enclosed farmsteads for a family of some local standing. Here the inner bank, built from earth and gravel with occasional large stones, still rises 1.3 metres above the interior at its northern arc, though along the southern half it has eroded down to the level of the enclosed ground. Its basal width of 5.6 metres and external height varying between 2.1 and 3.9 metres give a sense of the original ambition of the construction. The fosse outside it, 3.3 metres wide, remains waterlogged along its southern stretch. The outer bank survives only from the south-east round to the north, standing 1.8 metres high externally and up to 6.7 metres wide. An ill-defined gap in the south-east of the inner bank may mark the position of the original entrance, which would have faced towards the bay. The interior of the enclosure, roughly 31 metres across, appears level and featureless to the surface eye, though what lies beneath undisturbed ground on a site like this is a different question entirely.