The structure is a ring barrow, a type of prehistoric funerary monument in which a central burial mound is enclosed by a surrounding ditch, known as a fosse, and an outer earthen bank. This particular example has a central mound roughly eight metres across and standing about 0.6 metres high, with the outer bank reaching a similar height. A gap breaks the bank at the east-south-east, and the south-western arc shows considerable disturbance, suggesting the site has not been left entirely undisturbed over the centuries.

The misidentification is what gives the site a particular historical footnote. Writing in 1895, a researcher named Gillman proposed that the earthwork was the remains of a circular tower connected to Rathbarry Castle, the ruined medieval stronghold nearby. It is a reasonable mistake to make on first glance, since the low, ringed profile of a weathered barrow can resemble a collapsed or robbed-out tower base. Current archaeological thinking, however, considers this interpretation very unlikely. The structure almost certainly predates the castle by a considerable margin, belonging instead to a prehistoric tradition of enclosed burial monuments found widely across Ireland. The fosse surrounding the mound is shallow at around 0.2 metres deep, which is consistent with the typical form of a ring barrow rather than any defensive or structural foundation.