A rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, was typically a farmstead enclosed by one or more earthen banks and ditches, built and occupied roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. This particular example is modest even by that standard, rising only around 0.6 metres above the field level, with a total diameter of about 30 metres. Most striking is its position: it sits on the very edge of an extensive marsh that borders the Morning Star river, a location that would have offered both a natural defensive buffer and, perhaps, access to wetland resources. No entrance can now be identified on the ground.

The earliest recorded description of the monument comes from O'Kelly, writing in 1942 to 1943 and published in the survey literature at reference 233. O'Kelly noted the defining features plainly: a circular earthen platform enclosed by a fosse, which is the term for a ditch cut around a fortified site, with the raised interior separated from the surrounding landscape by that encircling hollow. The combination of marsh edge and earthwork suggests a deliberate choice of marginal ground, the kind of boundary terrain that appears repeatedly in early Irish settlement patterns, where the interface between dry land and wetland offered practical advantages. Aerial photography taken in September 2002 under the Archaeological Survey of Ireland programme captured the site from above, confirming the outline that ground-level observation alone might struggle to read clearly.

The site lies within the Smallcounty Barony, and reaching it requires some attention to the low-lying, potentially wet ground nearby given its proximity to marsh. The earthwork itself is subtle; visitors expecting a dramatic raised bank will need to adjust their expectations and look instead for the gentle circular swell of the platform and the slight depression of the fosse around it. The aerial photographs held by the Archaeological Survey of Ireland provide the clearest picture of the monument's form, and consulting those images before a visit gives a useful frame of reference for what to look for underfoot.