The structure, known locally as a cashel, consists of a roughly circular stone enclosure measuring about 11 metres across its interior. Though time has taken its toll on the fortification, reducing its walls to grass-covered rubble barely 20 centimetres high, the outline of this early medieval dwelling place remains clearly visible against the hillside.

The ringfort’s strategic position on the crest of the hill would have provided its inhabitants with excellent visibility in all directions; a crucial advantage in an era when raids and cattle rustling were common concerns. A gap in the eastern section of the wall likely marks the original entrance, whilst the northern perimeter has been altered over the centuries by a later field boundary that cuts across the ancient structure.

This type of fortified farmstead was once commonplace throughout Ireland, serving as the homes of prosperous farmers and minor nobility from roughly 500 to 1200 AD. The Laheen cashel, with its stone construction rather than earthen banks, suggests its builders had access to readily available stone and the resources to construct a more permanent, defensive homestead. Today, it stands as one of many such monuments dotting the Donegal landscape, a quiet reminder of the families who once lived, worked, and kept watch from this hilltop centuries ago.