The River Suir flows north to south roughly 50 metres from the eastern side of the site, where marshy fields prone to flooding create a natural barrier. Today, the site lies hidden beneath a tangle of trees, scrub and brambles, making it something of a secret spot for those interested in Ireland’s medieval past.

The ringwork’s defences are still impressively visible despite centuries of neglect. A substantial scarp rises 3.5 metres high, followed by a deep U-shaped fosse, or defensive ditch, measuring 4 metres wide and 4.2 metres deep. Beyond this lies a steep outer bank constructed from clay and stone, varying between 3 and 4.6 metres in width and standing about a metre high on its exterior face. The interior ground level sits considerably higher than the surrounding landscape, a common feature of these defensive structures that provided defenders with a commanding view of approaching threats.

What makes this particular ringwork fascinating is how its builders adapted the design to the natural topography. On the eastern side, where the land drops away sharply by 7 metres before continuing to fall another 2 metres to the marshy flood plain below, the medieval engineers dispensed with artificial defences entirely. This steep natural slope provided better protection than any man-made fortification could offer, demonstrating the practical ingenuity of Norman military architecture in Ireland. The site was first documented in detail in ‘The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary, Volume 1’ by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O’Brien in 2002, with updates following in 2008 as new research came to light.