What makes it worth a second look is the internal arrangement: a continuous fosse, or ditch, runs around the inside of an enclosing bank rather than the outside, which is the defining feature of a ring barrow. These monuments are generally associated with Bronze Age funerary practice, functioning as ceremonial or burial enclosures, though the exact use of any individual example is rarely certain.

The monument was recorded and compiled by archaeologist Geraldine Stout, with fieldwork references dating to surveys by Thornton in 1980 and Swan in 1986. The enclosed interior measures 44 metres in diameter, with the surrounding flat-topped bank reaching about half a metre in height and five metres in width. The fosse inside it is modest in scale, measuring roughly 0.8 metres wide and 0.35 metres deep. There are narrow breaks in the bank on both the eastern and western sides, though these are thought to be secondary features added at some later point, rather than original entrances. No corresponding causeways interrupt the fosse at those breaks, which is what an original entrance arrangement would typically include. The interior surface is uneven, scattered with low bumps that are not ancient features but the result of tree removal from the site in more recent times. A separate barrow, recorded under the reference DU020-006, lies approximately 150 metres to the north and slightly downslope, suggesting this part of the hill once held a small cluster of related monuments.

Athgoe Hill lies in south County Dublin, and the ring barrow sits at its highest point. The earthwork is subtle rather than dramatic, and without some foreknowledge of what to look for, the low bank and interior hollows could easily be passed over. The clearest way to read the monument is to walk the circuit of the bank and note the relationship between it and the fosse running inside it. The breaks in the east and west are visible on the ground. Early morning or late afternoon light, when shadows fall at a low angle, tends to bring out the relief of low earthworks like this more clearly than midday.