The earthwork is a substantial one: roughly 32 metres across north to south and 35 metres east to west, its raised interior enclosed by a bank of earth and stone that still stands between one and a half and three metres high on its outer face. Beyond the bank runs a fosse, the broad external ditch that once served both as a practical obstacle and a demonstration of the effort invested in building the place. Together, bank and fosse mark out the defended farmstead of an early Irish landowner, the kind of enclosed homestead that would have been a common feature of the Irish countryside during the early medieval period, perhaps from around the fifth to the twelfth century.

What makes the geometry here particularly telling is the way the bank responds to the lie of the land. On the downslope side, where any approach would have been easiest, the exterior height is at its greatest. On the upslope side, where the ground itself provides a natural advantage, the builders needed to do less work. The only break in the circuit is a gap of around two and a half metres at the north-north-east, where the bank slopes gradually down to the interior level and which is thought to represent the original entrance. The entire structure survived the replanting of the surrounding ground with beech woodland during the nineteenth century, a period when many Irish ringforts were quietly levelled to make way for agricultural improvement or ornamental landscaping. The proximity of a gate lodge associated with Noan House, located some 70 metres to the west, suggests the ringfort sat within or near the demesne of a later estate, which may help account for why it was preserved rather than cleared.