Whoever shaped it, probably sometime in the last few centuries BC, chose to work with what the landscape had already provided, grinding the raw boulder into a flattened cylinder just over a metre tall, with a smoothly domed top. The result is the Turoe Stone, and what covers its upper surface is unlike almost anything else surviving in the country.

Roughly two thirds of the stone's height is covered in La Tène ornament, the swirling, asymmetric curvilinear style associated with Celtic artistic traditions across Europe during the Iron Age. La Tène decoration is characterised by flowing curves, trumpet shapes, and interlocking spirals that seem to shift and fold as the eye moves across them. Here it is arranged in a quadripartite scheme, meaning the design is organised into four sections radiating around the dome, carved in three planes so that the relief has genuine depth and shadow. Below this, a horizontal band of incised step-pattern, about twenty centimetres deep, acts as a kind of visual border separating the decorated zone from the plain lower cylinder. The stone was originally found near the Rath of Feewore, a ringfort site in County Galway, which suggests it may have occupied a ceremonial or territorial role in the pre-Christian landscape, though its precise original function remains a matter of scholarly debate. A preservation order was placed on it as far back as 1933, and it has since been taken into state ownership as a National Monument.

At the time of writing, the stone is not on public display at its usual location. It has been removed to an Office of Public Works depot in Athenry for conservation work, so anyone planning to seek it out should check its current status before making the journey.