From inside its earthen bank, the River Shannon opens out to the north and the coastline of County Clare is clearly visible across the water, a view that would have given whoever lived here a considerable advantage in watching river traffic and any approach from the sea.

The site is a univallate rath, meaning it has a single enclosing bank rather than the two or three concentric rings found at more elaborate examples. Ringforts of this kind were typically built during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, and served as farmsteads or settlement enclosures for local farming families. At Beal, the circular bank encloses an area roughly 28 metres north to south and 27 metres east to west. The bank itself is well preserved, standing about 1.5 metres above the ground on the outside and 1.8 metres on the interior, and varying between 3 and 6 metres across at its base. In the south-western sector there is still a faint trace of the original fosse, the shallow ditch dug to provide material for the bank and to reinforce the boundary. This surviving stretch runs for approximately 14 metres and drops around 40 centimetres below the level of the surrounding land, modest but still legible in the ground. The entrance gap, at 3.5 metres wide, opens to the east, a common orientation for ringfort entrances and one that faces away from the prevailing westerly weather rolling in off the Atlantic.