The example at Tullaher in County Clare is one such site, a rath, which is the Irish term for a ringfort defined by an earthen bank and ditch rather than stone, enclosing what would once have been a farmstead or the residence of a local landowner of some standing. These structures date broadly from the early medieval period, roughly 500 to 1000 AD, and were the dominant form of rural settlement across Ireland for several centuries.

The Tullaher rath sits in a county already dense with early medieval remains, Clare having been home to numerous small kingdoms and sub-kingdoms during the period when ringforts were in active use. The earthen bank of a rath, thrown up from the material dug out to form the surrounding ditch, would have supported a timber palisade, and the interior typically contained thatched round-houses, animal pens, and storage pits. Some raths were simple single-family enclosures; others, with multiple concentric banks, indicated higher social rank. Without more detailed survey information for this particular site, it is not possible to say how many banks survive at Tullaher or what condition they are in, but the presence of a named, recorded monument here points to something worth preserving in the landscape.