The arched recess at its base, once the draw arch where burnt lime was raked out, has been partially filled in over the years, though its form remains readable at a width of about 2.35 metres. Above, the funnel through which limestone and fuel were loaded in alternating layers has partially fallen in, its diameter originally around two metres.

Lime kilns of this kind were working features of the Irish agricultural landscape from at least the seventeenth century through to the late nineteenth, used to burn limestone at high temperatures and produce quicklime for spreading on acidic soils or for use as mortar. The Ardrah example was already present when the Ordnance Survey mapped the area at six inches to the mile in 1842, which places it firmly within the period of intensive rural improvement that preceded the Famine. Building a kiln into a hillside was standard practice; the slope allowed carts to tip material directly into the top of the funnel from above, while workers could access the draw arch at the lower front elevation without any structure needing to bear the weight of the load independently. The natural topography did the structural work.