What survives is a scarp, essentially a sloped earthen edge, tracing a rough circle about 43 metres across, with a maximum height of around 1.5 metres. It is not dramatic in the conventional sense, but the subtlety is part of what makes it worth attention. The land itself has absorbed the structure so thoroughly that the boundary between archaeology and ordinary field has almost dissolved.

Circular enclosures of this kind are among the most common archaeological features in the Irish landscape, though their purposes varied considerably. Some served as ringforts, the enclosed farmsteads of early medieval Ireland, while others may have had ceremonial or funerary functions reaching back further still. At Cloonigny, the enclosure sits on a hummock in slightly undulating pastureland, a position that would have given its builders a modest but useful elevation over the surrounding ground. Traces of a possible external fosse, a defensive or boundary ditch, are faintly visible at the south-east, and gaps in the scarp appear at both the south-east and south-west, which may mark original entrances or simply points where the earthwork has been most eroded over time. The interior rises gently towards the centre, and an oval hollow at the northern end has been tentatively identified as the result of quarrying, suggesting the site has seen activity beyond its original purpose, though when or by whom is not recorded.