This is a rath, the Irish term for a ringfort, the kind of enclosed farmstead that was built and occupied across Ireland roughly between the early centuries AD and the coming of the Normans. Thousands survive in various states of preservation; what makes this one at Faheens quietly interesting is the way it has been absorbed into the working landscape without quite disappearing.

The enclosure is slightly oval, measuring approximately 28 metres east to west and 36 metres from north-north-east to south-south-west, and it sits on a gentle rise with a stream some 130 metres to the north-east. Its earthen bank survives to noticeably different heights depending on where you measure: around 1.1 metres on the outside at the north-west, rising to 1.6 metres on the south-east exterior. At some point, the western arc of the bank was pressed into service as a field boundary fence, its outer face cut vertical and faced with stones, which explains why that section looks rather more deliberate than the rest. The eastern arc retains a broader, more natural external slope with a low stony rim on the inside. At the south-south-east there is a gap about 1.8 metres wide, flanked by two boulders that may mark the original entrance. The interior slopes gently downward from the centre toward the east and south-east, though the western half is now largely obscured by blackthorn scrub. A second rath lies just 275 metres to the north-west, a reminder that these enclosures were rarely isolated; the early medieval countryside was considerably more densely settled than the open farmland visible today would suggest.