It is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, a type of enclosed farmstead built and occupied primarily during the early medieval period, roughly the fifth to twelfth centuries. Thousands of them survive across Ireland in varying states of repair, but this one at Curraghaun is on the more battered end of the spectrum.

The rath measures twenty-six metres in diameter and was originally defined by two earthen banks with a fosse, or ditch, running between them. That double-bank arrangement would have marked this out as a more substantial enclosure than the single-banked raths that make up the majority of surviving examples, possibly reflecting the relative status of whoever occupied it. By the time it was recorded by Neary in 1914, the structure was already in poor condition. The northern and north-eastern sections of the enclosing elements had been disturbed, and a road had cut through the outer bank on the southern side. One feature, however, appears to be original: a gap at the south-south-west, which is likely where the entrance once stood. Entrance gaps on the southern or south-western side are a common characteristic of Irish ringforts, possibly for reasons of prevailing wind or solar orientation.

The site sits in open grassland near the river junction, so it is broadly visible in the landscape, though the earthworks themselves are low and worn. The original entrance gap at the south-south-west is perhaps the most legible feature remaining, offering a faint sense of how the enclosure would once have been approached.