The result is a slightly odd geometry: where a ringfort, or rath, would normally present a full circular or oval form, this one reads as a D-shape, its flat side defined not by any ancient intention but by a later boundary that simply got in the way.

The rath itself measures roughly 31 metres east to west, a modestly sized example of a monument type that was once extraordinarily common across the Irish landscape. Ringforts were enclosed farmsteads, typically dating from the early medieval period, roughly the sixth to the twelfth centuries, built to define and defend a family's living space and livestock. At Barradaw, the enclosing bank is constructed from dumped stone and survives to a height of about 0.6 metres, low enough that cattle graze across it without much ceremony. Three breaks in the bank have been identified: one to the northeast, which is the probable original entrance, and two others to the south-southeast and west-southwest, though it is not always easy to distinguish an ancient gap from a later agricultural convenience. The interior slopes gently downhill toward the south-southwest, following the natural lie of the land on a slope that faces broadly in the same direction.