At Leahys in County Limerick, a rath sits on a north-facing slope in pasture, its circular enclosure so thoroughly overtaken by dense undergrowth and trees that the only way in is along paths worn by cattle. The animals have, almost accidentally, preserved access to something that might otherwise be entirely invisible.

Ringforts, sometimes called raths when constructed from earth and stone rather than timber alone, were the most common form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically dating from roughly the fifth to the twelfth centuries. They functioned as enclosed farmsteads, the bank and fosse providing a degree of protection for livestock and family alike. The one at Leahys measures 27.8 metres across its north-south axis, enclosed by an earth-and-stone bank that rises only 0.4 metres on the interior but presents a considerably more imposing face of 1.9 metres on the exterior side, which is the more typical arrangement: the bank was built up using material dug from the external fosse, the shallow ditch that runs around the outside. Here that fosse is 1.5 metres wide and 0.2 metres deep, though it is barely perceptible along the northern and eastern sides and has been cut through on the east by a later north-south field boundary, a common enough fate for ancient earthworks in farmed landscapes. The record was compiled by Denis Power and uploaded in August 2011.

The internal profile of the bank varies around the circuit, with the slope generally low and gradual rather than sharply defined. Because the entire site is covered in trees and dense undergrowth, a visitor should not expect clear sightlines or an obvious perimeter; the earthworks reveal themselves slowly, and it is easy to be inside the enclosure before fully registering the bank around you. The cattle paths on the north and south sides offer the most practicable entry points. The fosse, where it survives as a readable feature, is worth crouching to examine on the western side, where it is least disturbed by the field boundary.