This is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, the most common monument type in the Irish landscape. Ringforts were typically enclosed farmsteads of the early medieval period, home to a single family and their livestock, defined by one or more banks of earth thrown up to deter both wolves and rival neighbours. What makes this one quietly notable is the asymmetry of its surviving defences: an earthen bank on the western and northern sides stands to about 1.7 metres, while to the east and south the enclosure is defined instead by a scarp, a cut or natural slope shaped into a near-vertical face, reaching approximately 2 metres high. Two different engineering solutions, running around the same enclosure.

The site measures roughly 26 metres north to south and 25 metres east to west, making it a compact but respectable example of the type. The north-facing aspect is slightly unusual; most early medieval farmers would have preferred a south-facing slope for warmth and growing conditions, so the position here was likely chosen for its commanding view down over the Meelagh River valley, which runs through this part of the Beara and Sheep's Head hinterland. The northern half of the interior is now heavily overgrown, which means the internal layout, any traces of house platforms or souterrains (the stone-lined underground passages sometimes found within ringforts, used for storage or refuge), remains largely unexamined from the surface.