That is a considerable mass of earth to have survived in agricultural land, and it gives some sense of how substantial these structures were when first constructed. This is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, the most common monument type in the Irish countryside. Ringforts were typically enclosed farmsteads built during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, in which a family unit lived and kept their animals safe behind a raised bank and sometimes a ditch.

This particular example measures twenty-seven metres in diameter, defined by a single earthen bank that stands 2.6 metres above the interior ground level and four metres above the exterior. The entrance faces southeast, which was a common orientation for such enclosures, possibly for practical reasons related to morning light and prevailing winds. Particularly interesting is the possible presence of a souterrain in the interior. A souterrain is an underground stone-lined passage or chamber, typically associated with early medieval settlements, and thought to have served variously for storage, refuge, or ventilation. Their exact functions are still debated, but their presence at a site is usually taken as a sign of a reasonably well-appointed settlement rather than a temporary or minor one.