Ringforts, known in Irish as raths, are roughly circular or oval enclosures defined by earthen banks or ditches, and they were built in their thousands across Ireland during the early medieval period, typically as farmsteads for a single family and their livestock. What sets this particular example apart is a deliberate piece of ground-shaping: the interior has been raised on its north-western side to counteract the natural slope, creating a level working surface within the enclosure rather than leaving occupants to manage on a tilted plot.

The enclosure is oval in plan, measuring approximately 28.6 metres north to south and 33 metres east to west, and it sits on a north-north-west-facing slope in what is now pasture. The boundary varies depending on where you are standing relative to it. Along the north-east to south-west arc, the enclosing element is an earthen bank standing roughly 1.6 metres above the interior, while elsewhere the edge is formed by a scarp, a natural or cut slope in the ground, rising to about 1.8 metres. The combination of constructed bank and scarp is not unusual for this type of monument, but taken together with the levelled interior it gives a clear sense of the practical reasoning that went into laying out even a modest early medieval farmstead on difficult ground.