The ringfort at Rathjordan has been levelled, its earthworks reduced to a low scarp barely enough to cast a shadow, yet the circular form persists in the land itself, a subtle interruption in the otherwise unremarkable pasture.

Ringforts, sometimes called raths, were the most common form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically dating from around the sixth to the twelfth century. They were enclosed farmsteads, their circular banks and ditches offering a degree of protection for a family and their livestock rather than any serious military fortification. The Rathjordan example was recorded as an embanked circular enclosure on a 1928 Ordnance Survey map, at which point its form was presumably still more legible than it is today. Compiled by Denis Power and uploaded to the national record in November 2013, the survey notes describe a roughly oval area measuring approximately 22 metres north to south and 24 metres east to west. The bank that once defined it has been levelled to a scarp just 0.4 metres high and around 3 metres wide, and it diminishes further along the south-western to northern arc. A trace of the original fosse, the defensive ditch that typically ran outside the bank, survives on the eastern to northern side, with a total width of nearly 7 metres and a basal width of just over a metre, though it is now only about 15 centimetres deep. The interior of the enclosure slopes gently downward to the west before levelling off near the western edge.

The site sits on a gentle west-facing slope in pasture, which means access depends on the landowner's permission and the season. In drier months the ground conditions make it easier to read the slight changes in elevation that betray the old bank line. The most legible portion appears to be the eastern arc, where the fosse trace survives, so it is worth approaching from that side and allowing your eye to follow the low scarp around the perimeter. A visit at low sun, morning or late afternoon, helps considerably; the shallow earthworks are almost entirely a matter of shadow and gradient at this point.