This is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, which was the most common form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland. Typically consisting of a raised earthen or stone bank enclosing a circular area, raths served as farmsteads for individual family groups, the bank offering a degree of security for livestock as much as for people. What makes Riddlestown's example quietly worth attention is the way it sits at a break in a south-facing slope, a position that speaks to the practical calculations of whoever chose to build here, sheltered from the north, catching winter light, and with the enclosed interior sloping gently downward toward the south.

The earthwork measures approximately 28.3 metres north to south and 29.8 metres east to west, making it a fairly typical example in terms of scale. The enclosing bank is composed of both earth and stone, and its condition varies considerably around the circuit. From the south-west around to the east, the bank survives reasonably well, standing to an internal height of around 0.85 metres and an external height of 1.25 metres. At the south-east, however, it degrades over roughly ten metres into something closer to a scarp, the internal height dropping to around 0.2 metres. Field boundaries that were still visible on the Ordnance Survey six-inch map of 1923, abutting the bank at the north-west and south-south-east, have since been removed, meaning the present landscape no longer reflects the layered field system that once surrounded the site. The record was compiled by Denis Power and uploaded to the Archaeological Survey of Ireland in August 2011, with aerial photographs taken in March 2006 providing supporting documentation.

The site sits in pasture and, as the survey notes make clear, the interior has been heavily poached by cattle over the years, which has disturbed the ground surface considerably. Visitors should be aware that this is agricultural land and access would require permission from the landowner. The bank is most legible when approached from the south-west, where preservation is at its best, and the subtle change in gradient across the interior becomes apparent once you are standing within the enclosure itself. Early spring or late autumn, when vegetation is low, tends to offer the clearest reading of earthwork features like this one.