The rise is in fact a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, and the dense overgrowth that now smothers most of it makes the underlying geometry all the more surprising when you begin to trace it.

The enclosure is oval in plan, measuring roughly 30 metres on its longer north-north-west to south-south-east axis and about 24 metres across. It is defined by an earthen bank approximately 5.85 metres wide, which stands around 1.3 metres high on the exterior and a more modest 0.6 metres on the interior side, a difference that reflects how these banks were typically thrown up from a central ditch or simply compacted earth. Ringforts of this type were the commonplace farmsteads of early Christian Ireland, used from roughly the fifth to the twelfth century, and thousands survive across the country in varying states of preservation. What makes this one of particular interest, documented by Denis Power and uploaded to the national record in October 2013, is the presence of a possible souterrain in the south-west quadrant. A souterrain is an underground passage, usually stone-lined, that served early farming communities as a cool store for food, a refuge, or both. A second enclosure also adjoins the site at its southern side, suggesting this was once a more complex arrangement than the solitary bank now implies.

The scrub that covers the bank and much of the interior is both an obstacle and, in an odd way, a preservative; it discourages casual disturbance while making any close inspection of the earthworks difficult. The south-west quadrant, where the vegetation is less dense, is the most accessible part and the area worth paying attention to if you want to look for any trace of the souterrain. The site sits on private farmland, so access would require the landowner's permission. The low rise on which it sits is subtle enough that, without knowing what you are looking for, it can read simply as a field feature rather than a settlement boundary that once enclosed a household, its animals, and its stores.