This one at Ballybahallagh, sitting quietly in pasture on a gentle south-south-east-facing slope in north Cork, is a modest but well-preserved example of the type, and its survival in open farmland is itself something of a quiet curiosity.

A rath, as this category is known in Irish, is a roughly circular enclosure built during the early medieval period, typically between the fifth and twelfth centuries, and used as a defended farmstead by a single family or small community. The enclosure here measures 32.5 metres across on its north-south axis, which places it comfortably within the typical range for a single-family settlement. The boundary is formed partly by an earthen bank, standing to an internal height of around 0.75 metres on its south-west to east arc, and partly by a scarp, a cut or shaped slope in the ground rather than a built-up bank, rising to 0.95 metres on the east to south-west section. Outside the main enclosure, a fosse, essentially a defensive ditch dug into the earth, runs from the west around to the east-north-east and survives to a depth of around 0.8 metres. The combination of bank, scarp, and fosse suggests a site that was carefully engineered to suit its natural topography, making use of the slope rather than working against it. The interior is partially overgrown, which is common where such sites have been left undisturbed within working farmland.