This irregular enclosure, measuring roughly 26.5 metres north to south and 26 metres east to west, is defined by substantial earthen banks that rise over two metres in places. The defensive structure takes an unusual form, with its eastern side curving whilst the northern, southern and western sides remain straight. Though time and agricultural activity have taken their toll, particularly on the southern quadrant where the bank has been reduced to a scarp, the monument still commands an impressive presence in the landscape, surrounded by pasture with a vegetable garden occupying the small field directly to its south.

The site’s historical significance extends well beyond its physical remains. Rathronan is associated with a Templar manor, linking it to the military religious order that held considerable power in medieval Ireland until their suppression in the early 14th century. The Ordnance Survey Letters from the 1830s paint a rather different picture of the monument, describing it as a square fort raised about nine feet above field level, with an orchard of seven apple trees growing atop it. By that time, the surrounding land was already being tilled right up to the base of the earthwork, indicating centuries of agricultural encroachment on what was once likely a more extensive defensive complex.

Today, the interior of the ringwork presents a wild tangle of young ash and fir trees amongst thick growths of nettles, a far cry from its orderly orchard days. Recent decades have not been kind to the monument; field boundary clearance to the west resulted in material being dumped onto the western bank, whilst similar activity disturbed the northern defences. Despite these modifications and the absence of any visible fosse or ditch, Rathronan remains an evocative site. Its position below a hilltop where a pre-18th century church possibly stood, roughly 150 metres to the north, suggests this area held religious and strategic importance for centuries, from the medieval period through to more recent times.