The earthen bank, roughly twenty-four and a half metres across, rises no more than a metre above the surrounding field at its tallest external face, and considerably less on the inside. It is unassuming almost by design, yet it is the kind of feature that shaped the Irish countryside for centuries.

This is a rath, the most common type of ringfort in Ireland, built by enclosing a roughly circular area with one or more earthen banks and ditches. Raths served as defended farmsteads, typically dating from the early medieval period, between roughly the fifth and twelfth centuries, though some are older. The bank at Lackanatlieve, between three and three and a half metres wide, would originally have been more imposing, possibly topped with a timber palisade or hedge. Several breaks and eroded sections now interrupt the circuit, and the original entrance has been lost entirely, worn away or absorbed into the general weathering that centuries of farming bring. The site sits on a gentle rise in undulating pasture, a position that would have offered modest drainage and a clear view of the surrounding land, practical advantages for any early farmer choosing where to build.