A rath, to use the Irish term, is a roughly circular earthen enclosure, most commonly associated with early medieval settlement, typically serving as a farmstead or family compound. This one at Cloonlara is subcircular in plan, measuring approximately 42 metres east to west and 39 metres north to south, and it retains two earthen banks with a fosse, or ditch, running between them. That double-banked arrangement would originally have made it a reasonably substantial enclosure, suggesting a household of some local standing.

What makes this particular site worth attention is the way the modern landscape has quietly competed with the ancient one. A trackway cuts across the monument at both the north-east and north-west, and along the northern arc where it crosses, the fosse and outer bank have been worn away entirely, leaving no surface trace. A pit has eaten into the enclosing elements on the eastern side, and field boundaries slice through at the north and south. Despite all of this, the monument is still described as well preserved, which is a measure of how substantial it must once have been. The gaps visible at the south-east and south-west are thought to be original, which would place the entrance or entrances on the southern side of the enclosure, a common enough arrangement in Irish ringforts.