What makes it worth a second look is not grandeur but geometry: the inner bank traces a near-complete circuit around a space some 47.3 metres across, and at the south-south-east a stretch of stone revetment, the facing that once shored up the earthen bank, remains visible at the surface. Two concentric banks with a fosse, or ditch, between them is a relatively uncommon arrangement; most Irish raths make do with a single bank, so a bivallate example like this one suggests a settlement of some local consequence, or at least a household with the labour and means to build a more substantial enclosure.

Ringforts of this type were the standard form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically occupied between roughly the sixth and twelfth centuries. They functioned as enclosed farmsteads, the banks and fosse providing a degree of security for people and livestock rather than any serious military defence. The Rinville example was noted in published references as far back as 1914, when it appeared in a work by Athy, and again in 1952 in a study by McCaffrey. Those records established its basic character, and more recent survey work confirmed that the monument survives in fair condition, though not without damage. A later field wall running roughly north-north-west to south-south-east has cut through the eastern section of the fosse, and numerous gaps in both banks appear to be the result of modern interference rather than any ancient remodelling of the site.