Where most ringforts, the circular or oval enclosures built across Ireland during the early medieval period as farmsteads and family compounds, conform to a roughly round outline, the rath at Rathcahill East is noticeably D-shaped, its western bank running in an unusually straight line while the outer circuit curves more gently around the rest of the enclosure. That geometric anomaly, subtle from a distance but clear once you are standing alongside it, is one of the first things that distinguishes this site from the thousands of similar earthworks dotted across Limerick and the wider country.

The site was recorded and compiled by Denis Power, with notes uploaded in August 2011. It sits on an east-facing slope, currently under pasture, and measures approximately 44 metres north to south and 50 metres east to west. Two concentric earthen banks define the enclosure, separated by a fosse, the ditch dug between them, some 5.2 metres wide. The inner bank, while only 0.4 metres high on its interior face, rises to 2.8 metres on the exterior, giving it a considerably more imposing profile when seen from outside. The outer bank is lower and more rounded, standing 1.85 metres internally and 1.35 metres externally. A causeway entrance, 4 metres wide, survives at the north-northeast. At the south-southwest, a 5-metre gap cuts through both banks; this is most likely the result of cattle regularly pushing through to reach the level interior rather than any deliberate historical modification.

The site lies within working farmland, so access will depend on the landowner and the season. The level interior, long since cleared of any surface structures, offers little for the eye beyond the earthworks themselves, but the banks are well enough preserved that the original design reads clearly on the ground. The causeway entrance at the north-northeast is the detail most worth seeking out, as it represents the planned, original threshold into the enclosure, in contrast to the battered gap at the south-southwest worn open by generations of grazing animals. Early morning or low winter light will help pick out the profile of the banks against the slope.