This is a rath, the most common type of ringfort found across Ireland, typically dating from the early medieval period between roughly the fifth and twelfth centuries. Ringforts served as enclosed farmsteads, the bank and accompanying external ditch providing a degree of security for a farming family, their animals, and their outbuildings. Thousands once existed across the island; many have been ploughed out or built over, which makes a reasonably intact example like this one worth pausing over.

The earthwork measures approximately 36 metres east to west and 35 metres north to south, making it a fairly typical size for a rath of this kind. The external fosse, a defensive ditch dug around the outside of the bank, survives to a depth of around 1.5 metres and runs from the south-southeast around to the east-northeast. A gap roughly six metres wide in the eastern side of the bank almost certainly marks the original entrance, a detail that aligns with a common preference in Irish ringforts for entrances oriented towards the east. The interior slopes gently downward in the same direction, which would have assisted drainage, a practical consideration for any enclosed settlement in the Irish climate.