Ringforts, known in Irish as raths, were the preferred homestead form of early medieval Ireland, typically consisting of a raised circular bank and accompanying ditch enclosing a domestic space. Most date from roughly the fifth to the twelfth centuries, and the vast majority were built not as military fortifications but as farmsteads, the earthworks serving to keep livestock in and wolves or raiders out.

The Ballinlongig example, surveyed and compiled by Denis Power and uploaded to the record in August 2011, sits on a gentle east-facing slope in ground that remains persistently waterlogged. Its sub-circular interior measures approximately 37 metres north to south and 27.5 metres east to west, making it a reasonably modest example of the type. The enclosing earthen bank stands only about 0.3 metres above the interior surface but rises to 0.8 metres on its outer face, and an external fosse, essentially a ditch dug to provide material for the bank and to reinforce the boundary, runs from the south-east around to the north-north-east, with a depth of around 0.4 metres and a width of roughly 1.75 metres. That fosse does not complete a full circuit; a field boundary cutting across the site from north-north-east to south-east has truncated the enclosing elements, meaning later agricultural organisation has quietly dismantled part of the original form.

The western third of the interior, along with much of the enclosing bank, is now buried under dense overgrowth, while the remainder of the interior is under pasture that cattle have churned heavily. Access into the interior is possible through a gap of about 5.3 metres wide where the field boundary meets the south-eastern edge of the enclosing bank. Anyone visiting should be prepared for soft, uneven ground given the marshy nature of the surrounding pasture, and the site will read most clearly on a dry day when the slight slope and the surviving earthworks cast enough shadow to make the bank legible. The overgrowth on the western side makes a full circuit of the interior difficult, but the eastern arc of the fosse, where it survives, gives a reasonable sense of the original enclosure's scale and intent.