Its foundations sit at the third and deepest occupation level within the earthwork, some 0.7 metres below the second level, and its collapsed wall, averaging 1.5 metres thick, tells of a structure built with serious intent despite its modest scale.

A rath, sometimes called a ringfort, is an enclosed farmstead of the early medieval period, typically defined by one or more earthen banks and ditches. Finding multiple stratified levels within one suggests a site that was returned to and reoccupied across a considerable span of time, each generation leaving its own layer. The hut at the deepest level has a maximum internal diameter of just 3 metres and shows a possible entrance gap facing roughly east-north-east. The name Cloghaun, from the Irish for a small stone structure or stepping stone, was recorded on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map, suggesting the feature was visible and locally recognised well into the nineteenth century. The site is documented in the archaeological survey of the Iveragh Peninsula compiled by A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan, published by Cork University Press in 1996.