The one at Garraneard in County Cork is more elaborately defended than that, enclosed not by one but by two earthen banks with a fosse between them. A fosse is simply a ditch, dug to create the bank material and to reinforce the barrier, and the presence of two concentric systems of bank and ditch places this site in a category archaeologists describe as bivallate, a classification that generally signals either heightened status or a greater-than-usual concern with security.

The site sits on a south-west-facing slope, currently in pasture, and its dimensions are fairly substantial: roughly 33.5 metres north to south and 40.5 metres east to west. The inner bank stands to an internal height of about 1.2 metres along its western to northern arc, with lower ground elsewhere. The outer bank is considerably more imposing at 2.7 metres internally along the north to north-north-west stretch, and at some point this northern section was rebuilt or reinforced in stone rather than earth, suggesting either repair work or perhaps a change in how the enclosure was being used. An external fosse of around 2 metres depth runs along the outer edge, accompanied by a counterbank on the southern to west-north-west side. The entrance, 4.5 metres wide, faces south and is reached by a causeway crossing the outer fosse, a straightforward but practical arrangement that funnelled anyone approaching into a single, observable point of access.

Taken together, these features describe an enclosure that was built and maintained with some care over time. Ringforts of this type were the dominant settlement form in early medieval Ireland, broadly from around the sixth to the tenth centuries, though many continued in use or were adapted well beyond that period. The mix of earthen and stone construction at Garraneard, and the effort invested in double defences, suggests this was no ordinary farmstead boundary.