A rath, to use the Irish term for this class of enclosed settlement, was the standard farmstead of early medieval Ireland, built by a family of some local standing to define their territory and protect their livestock. Most rely on earthwork alone. The stone-facing here is a more deliberate construction, and the enclosure's position, commanding a view directly down into the Trabeg inlet, suggests its builders were not indifferent to what could be seen approaching from the water.

The interior holds further complications. The southern portion is occupied by a large oval feature, roughly 21.5 metres east to west and eight metres north to south, bounded on its north side by a low bank and on its south by a drop in the ground level. At the southern end of this feature there is a stone-lined hole, which appears to connect to a souterrain recorded in the Ordnance Survey Name Books for Kinard. A souterrain is an underground passage or chamber, typically cut into subsoil and lined or roofed with stone, used in early medieval settlements for storage or concealment. A substantial stone slab set into the outer face of the bank beside the probable original entrance on the south may also relate to this underground element. That original entrance gap measures 5.5 metres across; a secondary break of three metres opens to the north-northwest. Directly outside the enclosure to the southwest lies Tobernastellagh, a holy well, which is a common pairing across the Irish landscape, where sacred water sources often accumulated association with settled, inhabited places over generations.