This is a rath, the most common type of early medieval enclosure in Ireland, typically built between roughly the fifth and twelfth centuries as a defended farmstead for a single family and their livestock. What makes this one at Rafwee worth a closer look is simply how well it has come through: the inner structure reads clearly on the ground even where the outer bank has been worn down or lost entirely at the south-east and south-west.

The enclosure measures approximately 38 metres across its longest axis, running roughly north-north-west to south-south-east, and is defined by two earthen banks with a fosse, or ditch, running between them. A gap on the eastern side may be original, which would place the entrance facing the morning light, a fairly common orientation in Irish ringfort design. A later field wall has been built hard against the monument on its western side, a reminder of how working farmland has pressed up against these structures for centuries, sometimes eroding them, occasionally helping to preserve their outline by fixing a boundary at the edge. Associated with the site is a cashel-type enclosure nearby, suggesting this part of Rafwee was a focus of some activity in the early medieval period rather than an isolated dwelling.