A rath, for the uninitiated, is a roughly circular earthen enclosure, most commonly associated with early medieval Ireland and often used as a farmstead or settlement. That this particular rath came to host a lime kiln, a structure used for burning limestone at high temperatures to produce quicklime for agricultural or building purposes, gives the site an unusual layered quality, two very different periods of human activity occupying the same ground.

The kiln survives as a depression roughly three metres in diameter and 1.3 metres deep, with the southern half still stone-lined. The evidence of intense heat is still visible: the stones are vitrified, meaning the surface has been fused and glassy from prolonged exposure to fire, and the surrounding earth has been burnt to a deep red. These are the characteristic signs of a lime kiln that was used seriously, not experimentally. The precise period in which it operated is not recorded, but lime kilns of this type were a common feature of the Irish agricultural landscape from at least the eighteenth century, when improving landlords and tenant farmers alike spread lime across fields to reduce soil acidity and boost yields.