It is easy to pass such a feature without registering what it is, but the proportions here are considerable: the enclosure measures roughly 61 metres along its longer axis and nearly 48 metres across, making it a substantial presence on the landscape even if it no longer announces itself with any great drama.

This is a ringfort, a type of enclosed farmstead or high-status settlement common across Ireland from the early medieval period, roughly the fifth to the twelfth centuries, though some examples are older. The defining feature of a ringfort is its enclosing bank, and the one at Tattygare is well preserved. The earthen bank has a base width of around five metres, rises about one and a half metres above the interior ground level, and stands roughly two metres proud of the exterior. Crucially, it retains inner and outer facing stones, meaning the original builders lined both sides of the bank with stonework to keep it stable and defined. A fosse, that is a surrounding ditch, runs completely around the outside of the bank; it is about two metres wide at its base and drops approximately one metre below the surrounding ground. Together the bank and fosse would have created a meaningful barrier, both practical and symbolic. The only interruption in this circuit is a modern entrance cut at the north-west, which is the one element that does not belong to the original design.