In fact it is a rath, a type of ringfort that served as a farmstead enclosure during early medieval Ireland, typically dating from roughly the sixth to the twelfth century. What gives this one a particular degree of physical presence is the survival of its earthen bank to a height of 1.8 metres, still tall enough to have conveyed a sense of enclosure and, perhaps, status to anyone approaching across open ground.

The fort is roughly circular, measuring 29.6 metres on its north to south axis, and the bank retains traces of stone facing on both its inner and outer faces on the northeast side, a detail that suggests more careful construction than a purely earthen ring would require. A gap of about two metres on the northeast side marks what was once the entrance, though it is now blocked with stones and branches. Immediately outside this entrance, a fosse, which is simply a defensive ditch, survives to a depth of around 0.4 metres. Shallow as that now seems, the fosse and bank would originally have worked together to create a more pronounced barrier. The interior sits noticeably higher than the surrounding ground, another characteristic of a well-preserved rath, and one that reinforces the sense that the hillock beneath was either deliberately chosen or partially shaped to elevate the enclosure above its surroundings.