Measuring roughly 40 metres by 30 metres in an oval shape, it sits on a pronounced north-facing slope, yet at ground level it leaves no visible trace. That quality of invisibility is more common than it might seem among Ireland's prehistoric and early medieval enclosures, where centuries of cultivation, weathering, and land use have levelled earthworks that were once substantial enough to define and protect a dwelling, a farmstead, or a ceremonial space. What survives here survives mainly as a shape detectable from above, in the subtle patterning of soil and vegetation that aerial photography or lidar survey can sometimes reveal.

The enclosure at Ballinteskin is known largely through the work of P. Healy, to whom the record is credited. Beyond its dimensions and its orientation on that sloping ground, the details of its date and original function remain unresolved. Enclosures of this general type in Ireland range considerably in age and purpose, from the ring forts of the early medieval period, used as enclosed farmsteads, to earlier prehistoric boundaries whose meanings are harder to read. Without excavation, this one keeps its own counsel.