It is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, the kind of enclosed farmstead that early medieval families built across Ireland in their thousands between roughly the fifth and twelfth centuries. What makes this one quietly interesting is not just the structure itself but its relationship to its surroundings: another ringfort stands just 200 metres to the north, suggesting this was once a landscape with a meaningful concentration of settlement rather than an isolated homestead.

The site measures 38 metres across in both directions, making it a reasonably substantial example of its type. A fosse, which is a defensive ditch dug around the outside of the bank, survives on the southern side, and a gap of just over two metres wide opens on the south-east, likely the original entrance. Perhaps most intriguing is a possible souterrain in the interior. A souterrain is an underground stone-lined passage, typically associated with ringforts, thought to have served variously as a refuge, a cool storage space, or an escape route. Whether the one here has been properly investigated or simply noted as a possibility from surface evidence is not recorded, but its presence, if confirmed, would add another layer to what is already a well-preserved earthwork. The site was documented as part of an archaeological survey of Ballinrobe and district, compiled by D. Lavelle and published in 1994 by the Lough Mask and Lough Carra Tourist Development Association.