Ten metres across and barely a metre high, it is defined by a scarp and a narrow fosse, the shallow ditch that outlines it, and carries a slight depression at its crown along with the remnants of several tree stumps. The working interpretation is that this was once a tree ring, a deliberate planting of trees arranged in a circle as an ornamental feature within the designed landscape of a Georgian or later demesne. Such features were common in the landscaped grounds of Irish country houses, used to create focal points, frame views, or simply satisfy a fashionable interest in ordered, theatrical nature.

The mound sits within the demesne of Killua Castle, which lies roughly 410 metres to the north-north-east. The surrounding landscape is dense with related features. A second, similar earthwork stands only 45 metres to the south-south-east, and aerial photography taken in November 2011 revealed cropmarks of five further comparable earthworks approximately 70 metres to the south, arranged in a line running west to east, suggesting the whole area was laid out as part of a coherent, planned scheme. There is also a possible ringfort 65 metres to the south-west, a reminder that designed demesne landscapes were frequently superimposed over much older features. Quarrying activity at the south-western foot of the mound has been dated to after 1700, which gives a loose lower boundary for when the landscape was being actively shaped. The 1837 edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map adds another dimension: 120 metres to the north-east, a structure is marked simply as "Monument" in Gothic script, the cartographic convention typically used for antiquities or follies, suggesting whoever laid out this landscape had an eye for the romantic and the theatrical.