The rath, roughly 49 metres in diameter, is defined by a raised bank and an external fosse, the ditch that runs along the outside of the bank and would once have reinforced the enclosure's defensive character. What makes this particular example worth attention is its state of preservation: the bank remains clearly legible from the south around through the north to the south-east, while the fosse survives along a similar arc from the west through the north to the south-south-east. For an earthwork of this age, that degree of survival across most of its circuit is genuinely uncommon.

Raths, also known as ringforts, are among the most numerous archaeological monument types in Ireland, with tens of thousands recorded across the country. Most date to the early medieval period, roughly the fifth to the twelfth centuries, and functioned primarily as enclosed farmsteads, the bank and ditch marking the boundary of a family's settled space rather than a purely military fortification. Within the interior at Bracklagh, there is evidence of a probable souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage or chamber that in early medieval contexts typically served for storage or as a place of refuge. The site was noted by Costello as far back as 1903, and its dimensions and layout were later formally recorded in the Archaeological Inventory of County Galway.