This is a rath, the most common type of early medieval Irish settlement, typically built as a raised ringfort of earth and sometimes stone to enclose a farmstead or the residence of a local lord. What sets this one apart from the hundreds of similar earthworks scattered across Cork is a single local tradition: it is said to take its name from an ancient chieftain called Tahiff, or Fahiff, a figure otherwise unrecorded but preserved in the placename Gortnahoughtee itself.

The fort is a substantial piece of construction. The earthen bank measures around 33 metres east to west and 32 metres north to south, rising to an internal height of roughly 2.4 metres, with the outer fosse reaching a depth of 2 metres at its deepest point. The bank is stone-faced on its interior surface, and traces of stone facing are still visible along the base of the northern exterior. A berm, a flat ledge left between the inner face of a bank and the lip of its ditch, runs along the outer face. The original entrance, a gap of about 4.6 metres, faces north-northeast but has been closed off with a low stone wall at some point; a cattle gap on the southeastern side suggests the enclosure has long been folded into ordinary farming use. In the interior, there may also be a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage or chamber associated with early Irish raths, often used for storage or as a refuge.

The fort sits on a slope that falls away towards the northwest, with the eastern portion of the interior remaining relatively level. From its position on the hillside, Lough Allua and the village of Inchigeelagh are visible to the northeast, a reminder that whoever built and occupied this place chose the site with a clear eye for what lay around them.