The ringfort at Clashanure sits on a south-west-facing slope, and what makes it particularly odd is its situation: a structure of early medieval origin, most likely dating from between the fifth and twelfth centuries, now surrounded by manicured grass and coniferous planting. A ringfort, or rath, is essentially a circular enclosure defined by one or more earthen banks, used in early Christian Ireland as a defended farmstead or high-status residence. This one measures roughly thirty metres across in both directions, and despite centuries of agricultural and recreational activity, its defining features remain legible in the landscape.

The site is the more southerly of two ringforts that were once conjoined, sharing a boundary with a neighbouring enclosure to the north-east, from which it is separated by only a low rise in the ground. The outer bank still stands to an external height of around 2.7 metres in places, which is a respectable survival, and a fosse, the defensive ditch that would originally have run around the outside, can still be traced for a short section to the south-south-west, though much of it has been filled in and the ground there is noticeably uneven as a result. The interior has a distinctive saucer shape, deliberately raised on the southern and western sides to compensate for the natural fall of the hillslope. One detail from the 1842 Ordnance Survey six-inch map adds an extra layer to the site's history: a limekiln, a small stone structure used for burning limestone to produce agricultural lime, was once recorded at the southern bank. No trace of it remains above ground today, a reminder of how intensively these old earthworks were sometimes put to use in later centuries, their banks quarried or altered long after their original purpose was forgotten.