The earthwork sitting on top of it is an irregular enclosure, roughly 30 metres north to south and 14 metres east to west, shaped by a combination of scarps, a fosse, and a series of berms that once gave the whole feature a layered, defensive profile. A fosse is a defensive ditch, and here the surviving example runs along the south-western and western sides, reaching an overall width of more than 11 metres before widening further to the west-northwest. Between the fosse and the inner bank lies a wide, flat berm, a level platform that adds another tier to the arrangement. The outer edge of this berm is itself defined by a further low scarp, so that at its most legible, the enclosure reads as a sequence of earthen steps descending outward from the central raised area.

What makes the site at Rathcoun particularly striking is the density of related features pressed in around it. The enclosure sits within a cluster of monuments: a monastery occupies the northwestern quadrant of the same rise, with a holy well just to its north; a castle adjoins to the east-southeast; a second enclosure lies immediately to the southwest; and a church stands roughly 60 metres to the southeast. Together they suggest a place that accumulated ecclesiastical and secular significance over a long period, each new structure finding its position relative to what already existed. Unfortunately, substantial quarrying across the northern and northwestern sectors has badly disturbed the enclosing elements, leaving the fosse broken and backfilled in places and the outer berm partly levelled. What survives is therefore a partial picture, enough to trace the original complexity of the earthworks but not enough to read them as a complete sequence. The trees that now crowd the hillock add to the sense of something half-revealed, a site whose full extent has been both obscured by later activity and gradually reclaimed by the surrounding landscape.