Its earthen bank rises 4.2 metres above the ground outside, while inside the enclosure the ground sits at a slightly elevated level, giving the interior an odd, bowl-like quality in reverse, as though the whole structure has been subtly lifted. The entrance, narrow at just 1.7 metres wide, opens to the south-east and appears to have been stone-lined, a detail that hints at more deliberate construction than the simple grass-covered mound a passing glance might suggest.

Ringforts, known in Irish as raths, were the most common form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically serving as enclosed farmsteads for a single family and their livestock. This example at Knockavurra Glebe measures roughly 30 metres north to south and 31 metres east to west, making it a substantial specimen. The enclosing bank is about 7 metres wide at its base, a considerable mass of earth. More intriguing are the at least three stone mounds visible in the interior. These may be the collapsed remains of a souterrain, an underground stone-built passage or chamber that early medieval farmers used for storage or refuge, or they may mark the footprints of former house sites. The distinction matters archaeologically, though on the ground both possibilities point to a once-busy domestic world now reduced to low humps in the grass.