A slight scarp in the grassland and the shallow curve of an external fosse, a defensive ditch dug around the perimeter, are almost all that remain of what was once a subcircular enclosure measuring roughly forty metres across its northeast to southwest axis. A possible entrance gap survives at the northern side, though even that is uncertain.

Raths, also known as ringforts, were the dominant settlement form in early medieval Ireland, typically dating from around the sixth to the twelfth century. They served as enclosed farmsteads, their earthen banks and ditches marking out a family's home, livestock enclosures, and the boundary between the domestic and the wider landscape. Thousands survive across the country in varying states of preservation, but the one at Skehaghard sits at the more eroded end of that spectrum. The low hill it occupies would once have offered a degree of natural advantage, with views across the surrounding ground, and the south-facing aspect would have made the interior warmer and drier. What caused this particular example to fade so thoroughly, whether repeated ploughing, centuries of grazing, or simple time, is not recorded.

Because the earthworks are so slight, this is a site that rewards a careful eye rather than a casual glance. The fosse and scarp are most legible when the grass is short and the light is low and raking, conditions that tend to occur in late autumn or early winter. The outline of the enclosure becomes readable as shadow rather than mass, which is something that applies to many eroded earthworks across the Irish midlands and west.