Yet this ringfort at Coolnanoonagh, in north County Kerry, occupies a position on rising ground with open views in every direction, which was precisely the point. Ringforts, known in Irish as raths, were the standard form of enclosed farmstead across early medieval Ireland, roughly from the fifth to the twelfth centuries. Most consisted of a circular or sub-circular area ringed by one or more earthen banks, the whole thing functioning as a defended homestead for a farming family rather than a military fortification in any grand sense.

This particular example is what surveyors call univallate, meaning it has a single enclosing bank rather than the two or three concentric rings found at more elaborate sites. The interior measures roughly 25 metres north to south and 31 metres east to west, making it a moderately sized enclosure. The bank itself, with a base width of around five metres, survives to a height of 0.8 metres on the outer face and 0.6 metres internally. Two original gaps in the bank, one to the south-south-east measuring two metres across and a wider one to the east at five metres, would have served as entrances to the enclosed space. The townland boundary between Coolnanoonagh and the neighbouring Carhoonakineely runs immediately to the west, suggesting these ancient land divisions and the features within them have had a long, entangled relationship. The site was documented as part of the North Kerry Archaeological Survey, compiled by C. Toal and published in 1995.