The eastern side has been lost entirely, but enough survives to read the original design: an earth and stone bank about two metres wide and half a metre high, with a shallow external fosse, or ditch, running just outside it.

This is a rath, the most common monument type in the Irish countryside. Ringforts of this kind were typically built during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, and served as enclosed homesteads for farming families of varying social rank. The enclosing bank and fosse were not purely defensive in the military sense; they marked territory, controlled livestock, and signalled status. At Ballinveny, the choice of an east-facing hillside slope is fairly characteristic, offering shelter from prevailing westerly winds while keeping the interior reasonably dry. The dimensions here are modest but respectable, and the combination of earthen bank with stone incorporated into its fabric suggests the builders made use of whatever material the local ground offered.