Visible only from the air, it belongs to a category of archaeological traces known as parchmarks, where buried features such as ditches or walls affect the moisture retention of the soil above them, causing the grass or crop to dry out unevenly in summer heat. The result, invisible at ground level, can resolve into a clear shape when seen from altitude or satellite imagery.

The enclosure at Ballingowan appears as a near-circular outline, measuring approximately 38 metres north to south and 34 metres east to west, defined by a single narrow fosse, which is the archaeological term for a ditch cut into the ground as a boundary or defensive feature. It was first reported by Jean Charles Caillére, and subsequently confirmed on Ordnance Survey Ireland aerial photography from 2000, as well as on Google Earth imagery captured in July 2018. Circular enclosures of this general type are common across Ireland and often represent the buried remains of ringforts, the farmsteads of early medieval Ireland, though without excavation the date and precise function of this particular example cannot be confirmed. What can be said is that the enclosure sits quietly beneath farmland, unknown to most who pass by it, legible only to those who know how to read a satellite image.