That absence alone sets this site apart, since the OSi mapping tradition was thorough enough that most earthworks of this kind were recorded, even cursorily, by the nineteenth century. This one slipped through entirely, and its existence only came to light through aerial photography carried out by the Archaeological Survey of Ireland in 2002, when surveyors examining the images identified it as an enclosure.

Ringforts, sometimes called raths, are roughly circular enclosures typically defined by one or more earthen banks and ditches, and they were built and used mainly during the early medieval period in Ireland, from around the fifth to the twelfth century. This example in the townland of Crean, in the Smallcounty Barony, follows that general pattern but is double-ditched, with a bank, an inner fosse, an outer bank, and an external fosse, giving the whole monument external dimensions of roughly 70 metres north to south and 72 metres east to west. The interior diameter is approximately 39 metres, and within it, aerial orthoimages captured between 2005 and 2013 by both OSi and Digital Globe have revealed two distinct internal features. One is a circular structure of about 7 metres external diameter in the south-west corner, possibly the remains of a house or hut site. The other is a sub-rectangular structure, approximately 14 metres by 9 metres, positioned towards the centre of the interior. Possible entrances are discernible at the south and north-west. The site sits 696 metres south-east of the townland boundary with Ballintow, and Crean church and graveyard lie roughly 520 metres to the north-east, suggesting a cluster of early medieval activity in the area that repays quiet attention.

Because this site was identified through aerial survey rather than ground investigation, there is no visitor infrastructure here, and it sits on private agricultural land. Access would require landowner permission. The monument is most legible from the air or through satellite imagery; on the ground, the earthworks are low-lying and blend into the surrounding pasture, particularly in summer when vegetation is full. Late winter or early spring, when grass is short and the ground is damp enough to cast slight shadows across earthwork ridges, gives the best chance of reading the concentric banks and ditches from ground level. The record was compiled by Edmond O'Donovan and uploaded to the national monuments database in October 2020.