The structure is substantial, its random-rubble limestone walls measuring roughly 6.5 metres east to west and 5.4 metres north to south, encasing an earthen core. The front elevation, which faces north and stands around 6 metres high, is dominated by a lintelled corbelled recess, a shallow arched opening formed by projecting courses of stone rather than a true arch, where the draw hole would have allowed the burned lime to be raked out once firing was complete.

Lime kilns like this one were once a fixture of the Irish agricultural and building landscape. The process was straightforward but labour-intensive: limestone quarried nearby was loaded into the top of the kiln along with fuel, usually coal or wood, and fired at high temperatures over many hours. The resulting quicklime was used to improve acidic soils, to whitewash buildings, and as a mortar ingredient. At Gortore, the design follows a recognisable vernacular pattern, with sloping slabs at the rear and a stoking hole cut directly into one of them for tending the fire from below. A stone wall encloses the upper part of the structure, with an opening, or ope, roughly 2.5 metres wide on the south side providing access to the charging platform at the top, where limestone would have been fed in. That upper area is now choked with overgrowth and no longer accessible.

The kiln's integration into the quarry face was deliberate rather than incidental. Using the natural rock as a back wall saved considerable construction effort and helped retain heat during firing. The fact that the limestone for the kiln's own walls and for its fuel came from the same adjacent quarry gives the site a satisfying self-contained logic, the raw material, the fuel source, and the production facility all occupying the same small patch of north Cork ground.