The site is a rath, the most common form of ringfort in Ireland, built by enclosing a circular area with a raised bank of earth to create a defended farmstead. This particular example measures roughly forty metres across, with a bank rising to about 1.4 metres, and it sits on the northern side of the Owennagearagh River, angled so that it would once have looked out over the water below.

What makes the site more than a simple earthwork is what lies beneath it. The southern half of the interior contains a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage or chamber that was commonly dug beneath ringforts during the early medieval period, roughly between the seventh and twelfth centuries. Souterrains served various purposes, most likely as cool storage spaces and as places of refuge in times of danger. The rath's interior has not survived entirely intact; a laneway has cut into the eastern side, truncating the original enclosed area. This kind of incremental loss is common with earthwork monuments, which are far more vulnerable to agricultural change and boundary adjustments than stone structures. The Owennagearagh River running close by would have made the position attractive for early settlement, offering both water and a natural boundary on one side of the farmstead.