The example outside Kilmihil in County Clare is one such earthwork, a rath, which is the Irish term for a roughly circular enclosure defined by one or more earthen banks and ditches. These structures were the farmsteads of early medieval Ireland, occupied roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, and they appear in such numbers across the countryside that it is easy to pass one without registering what it is: a raised ring in a field, perhaps with a scrub of elder or hawthorn growing along its rim where a farmer's plough has never reached.

Kilmihil itself is a small parish in the western part of Clare, taking its name from Saint Mihil, a figure associated with the early Christian period in the region. The broader landscape of this part of Clare is well populated with ancient earthworks, reflecting centuries of settled farming activity in the area. A rath of this kind would originally have enclosed a family's dwelling house, outbuildings, and perhaps animal pens, all protected by the raised bank, which served as a boundary marker and a modest defensive barrier. The interior, once a working farmyard, is now more often a grassy platform distinguishable mainly by its elevation and circular outline.