The structure is roughly subcircular, about twelve metres in diameter, its stone wall now completely grassed over, blending into the surrounding land so thoroughly that it could easily be dismissed as a natural undulation. That it survived at all owes something to the fact that this particular patch of ground was never brought into agricultural improvement, left instead to its own slow processes while the fields around it were shaped and reshaped by human use.

The site sits within the townland of Noughaval, a place with deep early medieval associations, lying close to the ancient church and holy well of the same name in the Burren. Enclosures of this kind, sometimes called cashels when defined by drystone walling, are a recurring feature of the Irish landscape and typically date to the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, though they can be earlier or later. They served a range of purposes, from farmstead enclosures protecting livestock and family to more ceremonial or ecclesiastical uses, and their modest size often belies considerable age. This particular example was brought to the attention of the National Monuments Service by Conn Herriott. A second enclosure lies approximately twenty-five metres to the south-east, suggesting the two may have formed part of a related settlement or farming complex rather than standing in isolation.