A rath is a type of ringfort, a circular enclosure built during the early medieval period in Ireland, typically used as a farmstead and defended living space for a single family or small community. This one at Kilkilloge measures about 26 metres across, a modest but respectable size, and what makes it worth pausing over is precisely how complete its basic form remains.

The enclosing bank of earth and stone survives to between roughly 2.1 and 3 metres in external height, and runs about a metre wide. Outside the bank, a fosse, which is simply a defensive ditch dug to reinforce the barrier, is still traceable, though it has silted up considerably over time, narrowing to around 1.3 metres in width. The original entrance has not been positively identified, but the evidence points tentatively to the east-south-east, the favoured orientation for many Irish ringforts, likely because it faced the morning sun and offered good visibility across open ground.