The ringfort at Kilcurrivard is a subcircular enclosure measuring roughly 27.5 metres east to west, defined by a low bank of earth and stone. Along its eastern side, that bank has been further obscured by field clearance material, the accumulated debris of generations of farmers moving rocks off productive ground and piling them wherever was convenient. It is a fate that has befallen countless such sites across Ireland.

Ringforts are the most common field monument in the Irish landscape, typically dating from the early medieval period, roughly the sixth to tenth centuries, and serving as enclosed farmsteads for a single family or extended household. The enclosing bank offered a degree of security for livestock as much as for people. What makes Kilcurrivard quietly interesting despite its worn condition is the presence, within the interior, of a souterrain. These are underground stone-built passages or chambers, a souterrain being the French-derived term used by archaeologists for structures that were probably used for cool storage, refuge, or both. Their construction required considerable effort and planning, suggesting that even modestly sized ringfort settlements were more organised and purposeful than their ruined state might now imply. The combination of a surface enclosure and a subterranean annexe was a reasonably common arrangement in early medieval Ireland, and finding both elements still traceable at Kilcurrivard, however poorly preserved the upper works may be, gives the site a layer of interest that its unassuming appearance does little to advertise.