This particular example is D-shaped, with a noticeably straight edge along its south-western side, giving it an angular quality that sets it apart from the smoothly curved enclosures that dot the Irish midland landscape in their thousands.

A rath, to use the Irish term, is an early medieval farmstead enclosure, typically dating from somewhere between the sixth and tenth centuries, defined by one or more earthen banks and ditches built to demarcate a household's space and provide a degree of protection for livestock. The Ballyvade example measures roughly 44 metres in diameter and retains both its bank and an external fosse, which is the defensive ditch dug around the outer edge of the bank. The site sits in grassland, which is one reason the earthworks have survived at all; pasture tends to be kinder to buried and upstanding archaeology than arable cultivation. The straight south-western side may reflect a deliberate design choice, perhaps influenced by the terrain or a pre-existing boundary, though the record does not go further than noting its presence.