This is a rath, the most common type of early medieval settlement monument in Ireland, typically dating from roughly 500 to 1000 AD and built as an enclosed farmstead for a single family and their livestock. What makes Lissatunny's example quietly interesting is the combination of features that have survived: the bank remains well-preserved, trees have taken root along its crest over the centuries, and at the north-east a faint external fosse, a shallow defensive ditch dug to reinforce the enclosing bank, can still be traced in the ground.

The enclosure measures approximately 41 metres in diameter, placing it within the typical range for a single-family rath. Inside the north-west sector, a rectangular depression marks the ground. Such depressions within raths are sometimes interpreted as the footprints of earlier structures, sunken-floored outbuildings, or souterrains, the latter being underground stone-lined passages used for storage or refuge, though no specific identification has been made here. The name Lissatunny itself is worth noting: the element "liss" or "lis" in Irish placenames almost always signals the former presence of a ringfort, derived from the Old Irish "lios", meaning an enclosure or fortified dwelling. The name, in other words, has quietly preserved the memory of the monument for centuries before any modern survey was made.