Built into a depression in the ground rather than raised above it, the kiln uses the earth itself as structural support, a common and practical approach that allowed farmers and landowners to load fuel and limestone from above while drawing the burned lime from below.

The kiln's south-facing front wall, built from random-rubble sandstone and still standing at 3.2 metres high and roughly 7 metres wide, retains its earthen core despite the partial collapse of one side wall. At its base sits an arched recess just over a metre tall and more than three metres wide, deep enough to allow a worker to stand inside and rake out the quicklime produced by the burning process. Small holes running along the top of the side walls once held the timber centring used to support the arch during construction, a detail that reveals something of the care taken in building even a purely agricultural structure. Behind the arch, sloping slabs lead down to an opening at the base, and above them the limestone-lined funnel, where the raw materials were loaded, survives partially infilled, with a diameter of about 2.5 metres. Lime kilns like this one were once common features of Irish farmland. Burning limestone produced quicklime, which was spread on acidic soils to improve their fertility, and the fuel required, usually coal or turf, meant kilns were often sited with an eye to both local geology and transport routes.