This is a rath, the most common type of early medieval settlement site in Ireland, built by enclosing a domestic space with a raised earthen bank. Here, that bank survives to around half a metre in height and traces an arc from the south-west around to the north, describing a roughly circular area some 33 metres north to south and 35 metres east to west.

Raths were typically constructed between roughly the sixth and twelfth centuries, serving as enclosed farmsteads for a single family and their livestock. The earthen bank, sometimes supplemented by a ditch and timber palisade, provided a degree of security and marked out territory. Thousands survive across Ireland in varying states of preservation, and this one near Cloonee, in the Ballinrobe district close to Lough Mask and Lough Carra, is a fairly typical example in terms of its modest scale and its positioning on a gentle south-facing slope, a sensible choice that would have offered shelter and good drainage for whoever settled there.

A road now skirts the northern edge of the site, which means the rath is relatively easy to locate, though it sits in agricultural land and visitors should be mindful of that. The tree-lined interior gives the enclosure a distinctive silhouette when seen from the road, making it easier to pick out than many comparable earthworks that have been reduced by ploughing or erosion to near-invisibility in their surroundings.