It is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, a type of enclosed farmstead built predominantly during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. Tens of thousands once existed across Ireland, and their sheer number is part of what makes each individual example easy to overlook.

This particular example is a substantial one. The enclosing bank measures around 48 metres in diameter and roughly 6.5 metres in width, rising to about 1.5 metres on the interior eastern side and reaching some 2.4 metres in height when measured from the base of the outer fosse, the shallow ditch that runs around the outside and from which the bank material was originally dug. That fosse survives to an estimated depth of around one metre, with a base width of between two and three metres. Several gaps interrupt the bank; most are likely later breaches, but the one at the south-east is considered the probable original entrance, distinguished by the presence of a causeway crossing the fosse. The interior ground is uneven, which is typical of sites where subsurface features, the remains of structures, pits, or other activity, have left faint but persistent impressions on the surface.