Roughly thirty metres across and roughly subcircular in shape, it survives as a subtle ripple in the ground, the kind of feature that becomes legible mainly from the air, where its form resolves into something deliberate and unmistakably human in origin.

Enclosures of this type are among the most common yet least understood monuments in the Irish countryside. They are typically defined by a bank and ditch arrangement, and while many date to the early medieval period and may have served as enclosed farmsteads or ringforts, others have earlier or later origins that remain difficult to establish without excavation. The Ballybla example came to wider attention through an archaeological assessment carried out by D. L. Swan in 1996, in connection with a proposed development at nearby Killoughter. It was on an aerial photograph produced as part of that assessment that the enclosure's outline became clearly visible, its form preserved well enough to be recorded and included in the Archaeological Inventory of County Wicklow, published the following year. The surrounding area of Killoughter and Ballybla sits within a county that has no shortage of such earthwork remains, though many, like this one, receive little attention compared to the more dramatic monuments elsewhere in Wicklow.