The site is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, and the form it takes here is subtle enough to be easily overlooked: a roughly circular area about 27 metres across, defined not by a dramatic earthen bank but by a low undulation that traces an arc from the north-east around to the west-north-west. A modern field fence cuts across the northern edge of the interior, interrupting what would once have been a continuous enclosure.

Ringforts were the most common form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically dating from somewhere between the sixth and tenth centuries. They served as enclosed farmsteads, the surrounding bank and ditch offering a degree of protection for a family and their livestock. What makes the Ardkitt example particularly worth noting is the possible presence of a souterrain within its interior. A souterrain is an underground stone-lined passage or chamber, built beneath or adjacent to a settlement, and used for storage, refuge, or both. They are found at a significant proportion of ringfort sites across Ireland, though their precise functions likely varied. The Desertserges Parish History of 1978 records the site, suggesting it had some local recognition even before it entered the formal archaeological record.