A ringfort, or rath, is an enclosed farmstead of the early medieval period, usually defined by one or more earthen banks and ditches, and they number in the tens of thousands across Ireland. What makes this one worth a second look is the elaborateness of its defences and the sheer scale of what survives on a quietly unremarkable slope in County Tipperary.

The enclosure is defined by a substantial internal scarp, a wide U-shaped fosse (the ditch that surrounds the main bank, here roughly six metres across), and an outer bank that still stands nearly two and three-quarter metres high on its inner face. There are two causewayed entrances, meaning points where the fosse was left uncut to allow passage across: one at the south-west, about three and a half metres wide, and one at the south-east, somewhat narrower at three metres. The south-eastern entrance is likely a later addition, given that the outer bank beside it remains partially intact rather than cleanly broken. A deep channel, approximately two metres wide and eleven metres long, also cuts through the outer bank at the south-west, though its purpose or age is not recorded. The outer bank was at some point planted with mature beech trees, which still stand along it, though the southern and south-western sections have been considerably worn down over time. The name Rathfalla itself preserves the Irish word rath, pointing to a local memory of the site that has outlasted most of its physical context.