Its interior sits lower than the surrounding ground, giving it the quality of a shallow bowl pressed into the hillside rather than a fortified platform raised above it. That saucer-shaped profile, roughly 57 metres across at its longest axis, is what makes this particular enclosure worth a second look.

A ringfort, or rath, is typically an early medieval farmstead enclosed by one or more earthen banks, home to a family of some local standing in the period roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. At Sleveen the enclosure is defined by an earthen bank on its north-western side, standing about 0.9 metres high, while the rest of the perimeter takes the form of a scarp, a cut or eroded edge in the ground, reaching a maximum height of 1.7 metres with a slight lip on the inside. On the north-eastern side this scarp is stone-faced, a detail that suggests at least some deliberate construction rather than simple erosion over time. The site sits on a gentle south-facing slope in what is now pasture, with the River Lee visible to the south and the Sullane River to the east, a position that would have offered clear sightlines across converging waterways.

The perimeter of the enclosure is edged with coniferous trees, which now frame the site and make it easier to pick out from the surrounding farmland. The oval shape, oriented roughly north-east to south-west, and the variation in how the boundary was constructed on different sides give the earthwork an asymmetry that rewards careful inspection on the ground.