What remains is a subcircular rath, the Irish term for a ringfort defined by an earthen bank and ditch rather than stone, measuring approximately 32 metres north to south and 30 metres east to west. A shallow external fosse, the ditch that once ran around the outside of the enclosing bank, can still be traced from the south-west around through the west and up to the north. Beyond that arc, the monument has been considerably altered, and in places erased entirely.

Ringforts are among the most common archaeological monument types in Ireland, with an estimated 40,000 or more recorded across the island. They date mainly from the early medieval period, roughly the fifth to twelfth centuries, and functioned as enclosed farmsteads, the bank and fosse providing a degree of security for a family and their livestock rather than any serious military defence. The Gortnahorna example has fared less well than many. A roadway cuts across the monument at both the north-east and south-east, and to the east of those crossings no surface trace of the original enclosure survives at all. Quarrying has further disturbed the northern and north-eastern sections of the bank. Despite this, the western arc retains enough form to give a clear sense of what the original enclosure looked like. Notably, a second ringfort lies approximately 150 metres to the north-east, which is not unusual; paired or clustered ringforts appear across Ireland and may reflect extended family settlements or successive phases of occupation within the same landholding.