This is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, the most common archaeological monument type in the country. These were the farmsteads of early medieval Ireland, typically dating from around the sixth to the tenth century, built to enclose a family's home, animals, and small-scale agricultural activity within a raised bank of earth and sometimes stone.

The Derrycluvane example is modest in scale but well-preserved in its essentials. The enclosure measures roughly 25.8 metres north-north-east to south-south-west, and 26.7 metres east-south-east to west-north-west, making it a fairly typical size for a single-family settlement. The bank, rising to 2.7 metres, is faced with stone in places, suggesting the builders had access to local material and used it selectively to reinforce the earthwork. Outside the bank, running from the south around to the west-south-west, there is an external fosse, a shallow defensive ditch, surviving to a depth of around 0.4 metres. The bank is broken in two places, to the east at a width of 3.2 metres and to the north-north-west at 4 metres, most likely the original entrance points into the enclosure, though it is possible one or both gaps are later disturbances.