This is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, a type of enclosed settlement built and used throughout early medieval Ireland, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. Thousands survive across the country in varying states of preservation, and this example at Fawnlehane is among the quieter, less visited specimens.

The site sits on a gently south-facing slope and takes a roughly circular form, measuring approximately 25 metres north to south and 23.4 metres east to west. Its boundary is defined by a scarped edge, essentially a cut or trimmed drop in the ground surface, which stands between 0.45 metres and 1.4 metres high in places. Running along the south-east to west arc of the exterior is a fosse, a defensive or drainage ditch, measuring around 0.45 metres deep and 1.2 metres wide. The interior ground surface slopes downward toward the north. These dimensions are modest but consistent with domestic ringforts of the early medieval period, which typically housed a single farming family and their livestock. The site was recorded and compiled by Denis Power, with notes uploaded in August 2011.

The entire site lies under pasture, which means it is embedded within working farmland and there is no formal visitor infrastructure. Anyone approaching should be aware that access may depend on the goodwill of the landowner, and the usual courtesies apply. The earthworks are best appreciated in low winter or early spring light, when the angle of the sun throws the scarped edge and the outer fosse into sharper relief and the subtle changes in ground level become easier to read. There is nothing dramatic to find at the surface, no stonework, no obvious entrance, but the slight sense of enclosure once you are standing inside the circular area gives a reasonable impression of the original spatial logic of the place.