That quality of quiet deliberateness is precisely the point: this is a rath, or ringfort, an enclosed farmstead of early medieval Ireland, typically dating from roughly the sixth to the tenth century, in which a family would have lived within a defended circular enclosure.

The enclosure here measures approximately 27 metres north to south and 28 metres east to west, making it a modest but well-defined example of the type. It is bounded by an earth and stone bank, roughly four metres wide at its base and narrowing to about 1.7 metres at the top, with an external height that varies between one and two metres depending on where you stand. Beyond the bank runs an outer fosse, which is simply the ditch dug to provide material for the bank and to add a further obstacle to entry. That fosse, with a top width of around seven metres, is now only clearly visible from the south around to the northwest, the rest having been smoothed or obscured over time. The interior sits only about half a metre above the surrounding ground, which gives the whole structure a low, settled quality, as though it has been slowly exhaling into the hillside for centuries. Adding to the interest of the site is a second ringfort located just 100 metres to the southwest, a relatively close spacing that hints at the density with which early farming communities once occupied this upland ground. The east-facing slope offers open views from north through east to south, with higher ground rising to the west, a configuration that would have suited a household keen to observe the landscape below while sheltering from westerly weather.