It is, in fact, a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, the kind of enclosed farmstead that once dotted the early medieval landscape in their thousands. Most people who know ringforts at all picture a neat circular bank and ditch enclosing a house platform. This one is more subtle, and that subtlety is part of what makes it worth attention.

The enclosure is oval rather than circular, measuring roughly 23 metres north to south and 18 metres east to west. It is defined by an earthen bank, around two metres wide, that varies in height depending on which side you measure from, rising to about a metre on the exterior along the north-west to east-north-east arc, and reaching one and a half metres on the exterior along the south-south-east to west-south-west stretch. On the western side, the bank gives way to a scarp, a pronounced slope or cut in the ground, some six metres wide and dropping around three and a half metres, which gradually merges into the natural fall of the hillside rather than maintaining a distinct, constructed edge. There is no visible fosse, the defensive ditch that typically runs outside a ringfort bank, which suggests either that the natural slope of the knoll was considered sufficient protection, or that any ditch has long since silted and merged into the ground. The entrance is marked by a ramp on the east-north-east side, its base around two metres wide, and its position facing the lower slope rather than the hilltop is a practical choice, giving access while the higher ground behind provides a degree of natural shelter.