This is a rath, the commonest form of early medieval enclosure in Ireland, built by scooping and banking earth into a circular boundary that defined a farmstead or family compound. What survives here is the scarped inner face of that boundary, a vertical or near-vertical cut in the earth rather than a raised bank, enclosing a roughly circular space.

The enclosure at Ballyelan measures twenty-eight metres in diameter, with the scarped edge running to a height of 1.3 metres and a width of 2.2 metres at its most intact section. According to a survey compiled by Denis Power and uploaded to the national record in August 2011, the best-preserved stretch runs from the north-west around to the east-north-east. By the time the scarp reaches the east-north-east, it has become noticeably shallower, worn down by centuries of exposure and agricultural activity. Thorn bushes have taken hold along sections of the scarp face, as they frequently do on earthworks of this kind, their roots binding the soil and their thorns discouraging grazing animals from doing further damage. The interior is level and sits under pasture, though cattle have already scuffed and denuded the ground along the south-western verge. A farm passage runs roughly ten metres to the west-south-west, close enough to have shaped how the land around the monument has been managed over the years.

Visitors approaching across the surrounding fields should look for the subtle change in ground level that signals the edge of the enclosure, since the rath sits on a low rise in gently undulating terrain and does not announce itself dramatically. The north-western arc offers the clearest sense of the original height and profile of the scarp. The interior, though under ordinary pasture, gives a useful impression of the enclosed domestic space these structures once provided. As with most ringforts in agricultural use, the ground can be soft and uneven underfoot, and the thorn growth along the scarp face means some sections require a careful approach. Access would be subject to landowner permission, as the site lies within working farmland.