What makes it worth a second look is a detail recorded on the 1842 Ordnance Survey six-inch map: at some point in the nineteenth century, a lime kiln was cut into the outer face of the eastern bank, leaving a circular depression that is still visible today. A lime kiln was a simple industrial structure used to burn limestone and produce quicklime for agricultural use, and farmers across Ireland routinely adapted whatever landscape features were close to hand. In this case, someone found the raised outer edge of an ancient enclosure a perfectly serviceable place to build one.

The ringfort, known in Irish archaeology as a rath, is the most common field monument in Ireland, typically dating from the early medieval period, roughly the fifth to twelfth centuries, and used as a defended farmstead. This example at Ballybahallagh measures approximately 39.5 metres northeast to southwest and 38.2 metres northwest to southeast, enclosed by an earthen bank that still stands around 1.3 metres above the interior surface and nearly 1.85 metres above the ground outside. A fosse, or external ditch, runs from the southeast around to the northeast, surviving to a depth of about 1.25 metres. The section of bank between the northeast and east has been partially levelled and the corresponding fosse filled in, likely during agricultural improvements at some point after the site's original use. On the northwest-northwest side, a gap of about 2.6 metres in the bank probably marks the original entrance, and dumped material is visible just inside it on the southern side.

The interior platform is level, as would be expected in a site of this type, and the overall preservation is reasonable given the centuries of farming around and within it. The eastern bank protrudes noticeably inward, a distortion likely caused by the lime kiln construction altering the profile from outside. It is an ordinary enough detail in isolation, but as a physical record of two entirely different phases of use, separated by perhaps eight or nine centuries, it gives the site a quietly layered quality that a casual glance across the field would not immediately suggest.