Known locally as Dooneen, or An Dúinín in Irish, the site is a rath, an early medieval enclosure typically built to define and defend a farmstead of some status. What makes this one quietly compelling is the combination of its physical solidity and its stubborn concealment: the bank of earth and stone still reaches an average external height of 2.5 metres, and drystone facing, laid in regular courses, revets its inner flank in places to a surviving height of just under a metre. A surrounding fosse, the ditch that once added both drainage and a degree of defence to the enclosure, remains visible, averaging about two metres in width. The interior measures roughly 22 metres across, a space that would once have housed a household, its animals, and whatever small structures defined daily life in early Christian Ireland.

The site occupies the south-western slopes of Letter South, a position that gives it a clear view southward over Kenmare Bay. That outlook was almost certainly deliberate. Raths were not usually placed at random in the landscape; elevation and visibility were practical considerations, useful for monitoring movement and livestock alike. A gap in the bank on the south-eastern side may represent the original entrance, though it is heavily eroded and no firm conclusion can be drawn. There is also a local tradition that a souterrain lies beneath the site. A souterrain is an underground passage or chamber, often stone-lined, typically associated with raths and thought to have served as storage or as a place of refuge. No surface evidence of one has been found here, though absence of trace does not necessarily settle the question either way.