A ringfort, or rath, was a roughly circular enclosed settlement, typically of the early medieval period in Ireland, defined by one or more earthen banks and ditches. At Cloonfide, the enclosing bank survives, though just barely, rising only thirty to forty centimetres above the surrounding ground and measuring a little over two metres wide. The raised oval interior stretches approximately forty metres on its longer axis. It is not a dramatic presence in the landscape.

What makes this particular site quietly interesting is the record of its recent losses. A report from 1976 noted that the ringfort still had an intervening fosse, the ditch that would originally have sat between the main bank and a lower outer bank, along with that outer bank itself. Both features have since been levelled, absorbed into the agricultural ground around them. The same 1976 report identified the original entrance at the south-east, which was a common orientation for ringforts, and recorded a low, irregularly shaped spread of loose stones in the centre of the interior, of unknown significance. No explanation has been attached to those stones, and none is recorded; they may relate to a structure, a feature, or something else entirely, and the uncertainty is genuine rather than coy.