The name itself likely derives from the Irish for a narrow or sharp rath, a rath being the earthen enclosure that defines these circular farmsteads built across Ireland during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. And here, in a field in West Cork, the thing the place is named for can still be found, a low circular bank pushing up through the pasture grass on a south-facing slope.

The site measures approximately thirty metres in diameter, enclosed by an earthen bank standing around one and a half metres high. Those dimensions are fairly typical for a rath of this kind, which would originally have enclosed a family farmstead, perhaps a house, outbuildings, and a yard, all protected by the raised bank and likely a wooden palisade on top of it. This one is described as heavily overgrown, which is common enough for earthworks that have sat undisturbed in agricultural land for centuries. The vegetation actually helps in one sense, since the bank's outline can be read through the growth once you know what you are looking at. The south-facing aspect of the slope would have made practical sense to whoever chose the location, maximising light and warmth for daily life.

The site sits in pasture, so access depends entirely on landowner permission, as is the case with the majority of ringforts across Ireland. There are around forty thousand known examples in the country, yet most receive little formal attention, their earthworks slowly softening into the surrounding fields. Keenrath is a reminder that the archaeology of early medieval Ireland is not confined to visitor centres or interpretive panels; much of it is simply out there in ordinary farmland, unnamed on most maps, doing nothing in particular except persisting.