What marks it out is the faintest of raised platforms, a barely perceptible earthwork that traces a circular boundary on the ground. It is the kind of feature that becomes visible only when the light falls at a low angle, or when you already know what you are looking for.

Circular enclosures of this kind are found across Ireland and are generally understood to be the remains of enclosed settlements or farmsteads, most commonly associated with the early medieval period, though some date earlier or later. They are sometimes called ringforts, though that term carries a misleading suggestion of fortification; in most cases they were simply the boundaries of a household and its immediate agricultural space. The platform surviving at Fairhill is described as very faint and low, which suggests either considerable age, significant disturbance over the centuries, or both. The site is recorded in the Archaeological Inventory of County Galway, compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra, and Paul Gosling, published in 1999 as part of a systematic survey of the county's prehistoric and historic monuments.