This is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, the most common type of early medieval settlement monument in the country. Thousands were built across Ireland, typically between the sixth and tenth centuries, serving as enclosed farmsteads for a single family or small community. The enclosing bank defined territory, offered modest protection for livestock, and marked social standing as much as it provided any serious defence.

This particular example forms a near-perfect circle, measuring forty metres north to south and thirty-eight metres east to west, enclosed by an earthen bank that still stands to a height of 1.6 metres. What makes it slightly unusual is the internal stone facing along the eastern and northern sections of the bank, where the earthwork has been reinforced or lined with stone on the inside. This detail suggests some care was taken in its construction, and that whoever built it had access to local stone as well as the labour to use it. The combination of an earthen bank with internal stone facing is not uncommon in Cork, where both materials were often used together, but it gives this rath a solidity that a purely earthen example would lack.