Raths, or ringforts, are among the most common archaeological monuments in Ireland, with tens of thousands recorded across the island, yet each one represents the enclosed farmstead of an early medieval family, a private world bounded by a raised earthen wall and, often, an outer ditch. Their very ordinariness makes them easy to overlook, which is perhaps why so many survive at all.

The rath at Tullaroe belongs to a county exceptionally well supplied with such monuments. Clare's varied terrain, from its limestone uplands to its lowland pastures, preserved a great number of these enclosures simply because the land was never intensively ploughed out. A rath typically dates from roughly the fifth to the twelfth century, and would have sheltered a family's dwelling house, outbuildings, and livestock within its raised perimeter. Some raths were the homes of ordinary farmers; others were the seats of minor lords. Without excavation, it is rarely possible to say which a given site was, and Tullaroe has not, as far as current records indicate, been formally investigated in detail.