The gap in the bank to the north, and the slight raising of the interior on that same side to counteract the natural fall of the hillside, are the kinds of details that betray careful, considered construction beneath the vegetation.

This is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, a form of enclosed farmstead that was built and occupied primarily during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. Thousands of them survive across Ireland in varying states of preservation. They typically consist of a circular bank and ditch enclosing a domestic area, and were home to farming families rather than military garrisons, despite the fortified appearance. The Meenahony example measures approximately twenty-five metres in diameter, with the internal bank standing to around 1.4 metres in height. It is a modest but coherent example, notable for the practical adjustment made to the interior earthworks to keep the living space reasonably level on an awkward gradient. The Shournagh River valley below would have offered water, fertile low ground, and access routes, all sensible reasons to place a farmstead on this particular slope.