This is a rath, the most common type of early medieval enclosure in Ireland, typically constructed as a defended farmstead between roughly the sixth and twelfth centuries. The enclosure at Cloonteen is subcircular in plan, measuring approximately 33 metres east to west and 28.6 metres north to south, and is defined by an earthen bank with an external fosse, the term for a ditch dug around the outside of the bank to reinforce the boundary.

The monument survives in fair condition, though not without damage. The bank is best preserved from the south-southwest around to the northwest; elsewhere the enclosing element has been reduced to a scarp, a slope in the ground rather than a raised bank. More significantly, the southern sector has been quarried away at some point, removing a portion of the monument entirely. What remains still reads clearly as an enclosure, with a legible entrance gap on the southeast side. That entrance placement is not unusual for Irish raths; southeast-facing openings are relatively common, possibly for practical reasons related to shelter or morning light, though the exact reasoning is rarely certain.

The site sits on a gentle rise, which would have given its original occupants a modest but useful vantage over the surrounding land. That topographical choice, a slight elevation in otherwise flat terrain, is characteristic of rath construction across the Irish midlands and west, where dramatic hilltops are scarce and even a small rise offered both drainage and visibility. The quarrying to the south is a reminder of how many such sites have been partially or entirely lost over centuries of agricultural and industrial use, making those that survive, even partially, worth pausing over.