Within roughly 240 metres in every direction, four other raths sit in the surrounding landscape, forming a cluster that raises immediate questions about how these sites related to one another and why so many were established in such close proximity. Ringforts, or raths, were the most common form of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, typically consisting of a raised circular area enclosed by an earthen bank, and used as a farmstead or place of residence for a single family or small community. The one at Carrowgallda occupies the western end of a knoll, with the ground dropping away to the north and the Gweestion River running just 140 metres beyond that, making it a well-positioned site with long sightlines in all directions.

The enclosure itself is roughly circular, measuring around 22 metres across on its northwest to southeast axis. The earthen bank or scarp varies in height, reaching about 1.55 metres on the exterior at the north and 1.4 metres at the south, with only a slight interior lip, suggesting the bank was built primarily as a boundary marker and barrier rather than for dramatic elevation. Two narrow trenches or gullies, each about 0.6 to 0.8 metres wide and 0.2 metres deep, run across the interior on a roughly north-northeast to south-southwest axis, set approximately 2 metres apart. Their function is uncertain, and they appear to be of relatively recent origin, perhaps agricultural, though they introduce a note of ambiguity to an otherwise legible earthwork.

Access to the interior is made difficult by a dense growth of blackthorn and brambles that has taken over the enclosure, limiting any close examination of the bank or the interior surface. The surrounding landscape, however, gives a clear sense of the site's setting, and the proximity of the other raths nearby is visible from the knoll itself.