The monument was not identified on the ground but from the air, picked out on aerial photography in 2015, which is itself a reminder of how much of Ireland's archaeological record remains invisible at eye level. What emerged from that scrutiny was a roughly oval enclosure, measuring approximately 19.5 metres north-west to south-east and 17.5 metres north-east to south-west, defined by a well-preserved earthen bank and, in places, a low scarp. Between the inner enclosure and an outer bank lies a wide, flat-bottomed fosse, the term used for a ditch or trench that typically formed part of a defensive or boundary arrangement around a settlement or ceremonial space.

The structure is double-banked, with an inner bank and an intermittent outer earthen bank separated by that intervening fosse. The outer bank has suffered considerably, with large gaps on several sides and sections obscured by vegetation, while at the south-west and south-south-east ends it has been pushed outward, creating two irregular, modified areas. The interior itself is level across its north-western half but disturbed toward the south-east, where the ground drops away on a south-south-east-facing slope. A gap roughly twelve metres wide on the south-east to south-south-west side, where the enclosing elements are levelled on both sides, may mark the position of a causewayed entrance, a type of break in earthwork boundaries that allowed access across the fosse. The enclosure is conjoined to a rectangular enclosure immediately to the north, the two sharing a common outer fosse, which suggests the two monuments are related in some way, though the nature of that relationship is not yet understood.

One historical association can be firmly set aside. The Ordnance Survey six-inch map labels this area as the site of the Battle of Bunratty 1310, a real engagement in the turbulent politics of medieval Clare. However, these earthworks are not known to have any connection to that battle, and the battlefield record is treated separately. The label on the old map is a coincidence of location, not evidence of origin, and it serves as a useful caution against reading too much history into a landscape that has not yet given up its full story.