Measuring around 37 metres in diameter, it is the kind of structure that reveals itself most clearly from above, having been identified through aerial imagery rather than any dramatic ground-level discovery. Enclosures of this type, defined by a stone wall and broadly subcircular in plan, are common across Ireland and are generally understood as early historic or prehistoric enclosed settlements, though the function of any individual example is difficult to confirm without excavation.

What makes the Poulaphuca enclosure particularly interesting is its context within a much larger pattern of human activity across the Burren plateau. Field systems extend immediately to the north and west of the enclosure, and it sits within a very extensive network of ancient field boundaries that runs along the uplands from Poulbaun in the north to Rannagh West in the south. The Burren is already well known for its prehistoric field systems, some of which are among the most extensive surviving examples in Europe, and this enclosure appears to be one further element within that broader organised landscape. The site was noted by Ros Ó Maoldúin and is visible in Digital Globe imagery from 2011 to 2013 and OSi Aerial Premium imagery from 2012 to 2018.