The one at Lissard is a well-preserved example of a rath, the Old Irish term for a ringfort, which was the most common form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically enclosing a single family's homestead within one or more earthen banks. This one is almost perfectly circular, measuring around 36 metres in diameter, and is defined by two concentric banks with a fosse, or ditch, running between them. The double-bank arrangement suggests a degree of status or security beyond the basic single-enclosure type.

Along sections of the inner bank, traces of stone revetment survive, meaning the earthen bank was faced or reinforced with stone to help it hold its shape. This is a detail easily missed at ground level but significant, since it points to the care originally taken in the fort's construction. The breaches visible in the banks today appear to be modern intrusions rather than ancient collapses, so the underlying form of the monument has remained largely intact beneath whatever changes the surrounding agricultural landscape has brought. The presence of a second ringfort just to the south adds an unusual dimension; paired or clustered ringforts sometimes reflect extended family groupings or sequential phases of settlement across the same landscape, though the precise relationship between the two here remains unresolved.