The rath sits on elevated ground with wide views across the surrounding countryside, and its builders made deliberate use of the natural terrain: to the west, where the land drops sharply into Glencloosagh, the Irish name of which translates roughly as the glen of ears, no second bank was constructed at all. The slope itself served as the defensive barrier.

The earthworks that do survive are substantial. The outer bank reaches an external height of 1.8 metres and rises 2 metres above the fosse, the ditch cut between the two banks, which measures 2.4 metres across. The inner bank climbs higher still, 2.6 metres above the fosse on its outer face. To the south and south-east, a single bank stretches for 18 metres and rises 3.2 metres above the surrounding ground level. These are not modest ditches but serious constructions, suggesting a settlement of some local importance during the early medieval period, when raths of this kind served as enclosed farmsteads and occasional sites of small-scale industry or storage. The souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage typically used for cool storage or as a refuge, was a common feature of such enclosures across Ireland, though the specifics of this one at Kilpaddoge are not fully documented in surviving records.