This is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, a type of enclosed farmstead used predominantly during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. Thousands survive across Ireland, but each one carries its own particular degree of erasure, and this example at Carrickaneha is notable for how thoroughly time and agriculture have softened what was once a substantial earthwork.

When the monument was described in 1971, it measured approximately 40 metres east to west and 36 metres north to south, making it a fairly large example of its type. The enclosure consists of an earth and stone bank with an external fosse, the fosse being a ditch dug to provide material for the bank and to reinforce the boundary. The bank survives steeply in some sections but has been reduced almost to a scarp elsewhere, a low slope rather than a clear raised wall. The fosse is best preserved on the eastern side. No original entrance is visible, which is common where later activity has disturbed or overgrown the perimeter. Inside, the ground rises slightly from the edges toward the centre, and faint traces of cultivation ridges running east to west suggest the enclosed area was farmed at some point after the ringfort's original function was abandoned. A second ringfort lies roughly 155 metres to the south-west, a reminder that these monuments frequently occur in clusters, reflecting the dispersed farmsteads of early medieval Westmeath. Modern fences cut across the bank in several places, and a slight later bank has been added along the upper edge of the scarp on the southern side, layering more recent agricultural management over the older form.