It is the kind of site that rewards a careful eye; from a distance the remains read as little more than shallow circles pressed into the hillside, but up close the deliberate arrangement becomes clear, spread across a terrace roughly forty metres in extent from east to west.

The site lies in open upland terrain between the summits of Coomacarrea and Meenteog, on the Iveragh Peninsula in south Kerry. The huts vary considerably in size, ranging from around two metres to six metres in diameter, suggesting they may have served different purposes or been built at different times. Only the northernmost of the eight survives in any meaningful condition; the others have slumped to one or two courses of dry-stone walling, their outlines legible but fragile. Hut sites of this kind, typically circular or oval stone enclosures, are found across upland Ireland and are generally associated with seasonal pastoral activity, the temporary sheltering of people and animals during summer grazing on high ground, a practice known in Irish tradition as booleying. Whether the Tuar An Chladáin cluster served exactly that purpose is not recorded, but the south-facing, sheltered position above the valley floor would have made the terrace a practical choice for anyone working the mountain.