It is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, a type of enclosed farmstead that was the standard unit of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically dating from somewhere between the sixth and twelfth centuries. Thousands were built across the country, yet each one tends to have its own character, shaped by the land it occupies and the degree to which it has survived the intervening centuries.

This particular example measures approximately 32.5 metres north to south and 29 metres east to west, enclosed by an earthen bank that still stands about 1.1 metres high on its inner face, with an external fosse, or ditch, dropping roughly 1.5 metres deep. The bank is heavily overgrown, and sits lowest along the eastern side, where the interior ground slopes downward toward the river. A gap of just over a metre wide on the south-western side corresponds with a causeway crossing the fosse, most likely the original entrance. Perhaps the most intriguing detail is in the southern half of the interior, where a possible souterrain has been identified. A souterrain is an underground stone-lined passage or chamber, associated with ringforts throughout Ireland and thought to have served variously as storage space, a place of refuge, or both. Whether this one survives intact below the turf is not entirely clear, but its presence hints at a site that rewarded its occupants with more than just the view across the valley.