The ringfort that contains it is a rath, a type of enclosed settlement built during the early medieval period, typically between the fifth and twelfth centuries, when Irish farming families raised earthen banks around their homesteads for protection and status. This particular example measures roughly 55 metres across and is defined by two concentric earthen banks with a fosse, or ditch, running between them. That double-bank arrangement would have made it a more substantial enclosure than the average single-ringed rath, suggesting its original occupants were people of some consequence in their local community.

The inner bank still stands to about a metre in height, while the outer bank reaches approximately 1.35 metres, though livestock have done their work over the centuries and sections of that outer bank have been worn down considerably by cattle moving across it. Inside the enclosure is a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage or chamber of the kind frequently found within Irish ringforts. Souterrains served various purposes, most likely for food storage in cool conditions and possibly as a place of refuge during raids. The Ballycunningham example sits quietly in the interior of the rath, unannounced by anything visible at ground level unless you know precisely where to look.