A rath, as this type of earthwork is known, is essentially a circular or near-circular enclosure defined by one or more earthen banks, built during the early medieval period as a defended farmstead or high-status residence. What makes this particular example quietly interesting is the way the boundary has been maintained and modified over time: the original earthen bank, which still reaches a maximum height of around 1.6 metres along its southern to eastern arc, gives way in short sections to the west and north-east to a dry stone wall, suggesting that later hands patched and repaired it using whatever material was most practical on the day.

The enclosure itself is roughly circular, measuring 29 metres east to west and 27 metres north to south, with a gap of about 2.2 metres to the south-west that would have served as the original entrance. That southwest orientation for an entrance is fairly typical of Irish raths, though the reasons for the preference remain a matter of discussion among archaeologists. More striking still is the presence of a standing stone in the same field, to the north-east of the rath. Standing stones in Ireland predate the early medieval period by millennia, and their proximity to later ringforts is not uncommon, though whether that proximity reflects deliberate association, coincidence, or the reuse of already-significant ground is rarely easy to determine. The two monuments together give the field at Scrahanard an accidental kind of depth, layering periods of human activity across the same modest stretch of Cork pasture.