A ringfort, or rath, is an early medieval enclosed settlement, typically circular, formed by one or more earthen banks and ditches and used as a farmstead or place of residence. The one at Shangarry would once have formed a near-complete circle of roughly fifty metres in diameter, but today only an arc of its enclosing earthwork remains, running from the south-east around to the west-north-west. The rest has been eaten away over centuries, pressed on from two directions: a north-south field boundary has cut into the eastern side, and to the north, an enclosure around a nearby holy well has taken a further bite. The result is a monument that is easier to read as an absence than a presence.

The site was recorded on the 1924 Ordnance Survey six-inch map as an embanked circular enclosure, which gives some sense of how much ground has been lost in the intervening century alone. The surviving earthwork is modest but measurable: the bank stands 0.65 metres on its interior face and 1.35 metres on the exterior, with a fosse, that is an accompanying ditch, running alongside it to a depth of 1.1 metres and a width of 0.65 metres. The interior that remains is level ground, roughly 28.5 metres north to south and 27.45 metres east to west, sitting under pasture. The record was compiled by Denis Power and uploaded in August 2011 as part of a wider survey effort.

The site sits in level farmland, and the interior shows clear signs of continued agricultural use, with the pasture churned up in places by farm machinery tracks. There is no formal access or visitor infrastructure. The holy well enclosure immediately to the north, recorded separately under its own monument number, is worth locating if you are in the area, as together the two features suggest a landscape that has been in continuous use, for different purposes, across a very long stretch of time. The surviving arc of bank is subtle enough that knowing what you are looking for beforehand will make the difference between seeing it and walking past it.