It is, in fact, a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, a type of enclosed farmstead built and occupied throughout early medieval Ireland, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. Thousands survive across the country, but few sit in quite such an absorbed, almost theatrical setting as this one, swallowed by one of Europe's most significant yew forests within Killarney National Park.

The enclosure is roughly circular, measuring about twenty-two metres across, and is defined by a stone bank that has partially slumped over the centuries, now draped in moss and reaching no more than a metre or so above the exterior ground level. Trees have taken root within the interior, which slopes gently down toward the northeast. Concealed within the southeast half of the interior is a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage or chamber that typically served early medieval communities for storage, refuge, or both. Souterrains are a common feature of ringforts across Ireland, though their presence here, beneath living trees and deep forest shade, lends the site an added layer of quiet complexity.

The fort sits within the broader landscape of Killarney National Park, and the surrounding yew forest, one of the largest remaining native yew woodlands in Ireland, gives the approach an unusual quality. The low light filtering through the yew canopy means the stone bank reads differently depending on the season and the hour, sometimes almost invisible, sometimes sharply defined against the dark trunks. Visitors should look carefully at ground level for the curve of the bank, and the slight depression of the interior, before the souterrain entrance becomes apparent.