What remains is a subcircular patch of grass, roughly 40 metres east to west and 35 metres north to south, its defining bank so heavily worn that in places it rises barely 20 centimetres above the surrounding ground. A seven-metre-wide gap on the north-western side marks where the entrance once stood, though no fosse, the encircling ditch that typically accompanied such earthworks, survives to be seen.

Ringforts, known in Irish as ráth when formed from earthen banks, were the most common form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, built and occupied roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. They functioned primarily as enclosed farmsteads, the bank and any accompanying ditch offering protection for a family and their livestock rather than serving any grand military purpose. Thousands once dotted the Irish countryside; many have been lost entirely to ploughing, development, or simple time. The Ballyfad example sits close to the headwaters of a small stream about 180 metres to the south-west, a detail that would have mattered enormously to whoever chose the site, since reliable water was a practical necessity for any settled household. The south-easterly aspect of the slope would also have offered reasonable shelter and some advantage in terms of light and warmth.