It measures approximately thirty metres north to south and forty metres east to west, and while its enclosing bank has been worn down considerably over the centuries, the shallow external fosse, the defensive ditch that originally ran around the outside, remains visible along the northern arc. A possible entrance gap, just over two and a half metres wide, can be made out at the south-east side.

This is a rath, the most common type of early medieval settlement monument in Ireland. Raths were typically circular or oval enclosures formed by one or more earthen banks and ditches, used as enclosed farmsteads by farming families between roughly the fifth and twelfth centuries. They are found in their thousands across the Irish landscape, though many have been ploughed flat or built over. This particular example in the townland of Downs sits about a hundred and ten metres east of a stream that marks the boundary with the neighbouring townland of Monkstown, a reminder of how ancient landscape features and administrative boundaries can quietly coincide. The interior rises toward the centre, and two trenches are visible there; these appear to be of recent rather than archaeological origin. The perimeter has also been disturbed by quarrying at the east-north-east, the kind of interference that has degraded countless similar monuments across the country.