These circular earthwork enclosures, known in Irish as raths, were the standard form of rural settlement in Ireland from roughly the early centuries AD through to the early medieval period, typically enclosing a family farmhouse and its outbuildings within a raised bank and ditch. At Hilltown in County Wexford, the domestic architecture has changed considerably since then.

The site was recorded as a circular enclosure with a diameter of approximately 30 metres on the 1839 edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map, sitting on ground that is relatively flat and open. By the time of more recent survey work, the interior had been built over, but the earthwork had not entirely disappeared. An arc of scarp, that is, the surviving edge of the original bank or enclosure boundary, remains visible on the south-western side, running for around 34 metres and standing about 0.8 metres high. It is a modest remnant, but enough to confirm the shape and scale of what was once here. Adding further interest to the immediate landscape, a standing stone lies just 55 metres to the west of the ringfort, catalogued separately as WX048-048001. The proximity of a standing stone to a rath is not unusual in Irish archaeology, though whether the two features were ever functionally related is a question the surviving evidence cannot answer.

For anyone curious enough to seek out the site, the arc of earthwork on the south-western side is what to look for, low and grassy, easily overlooked, but legible once you know what shaped it.