Polldrian, likely derived from the Irish poll, meaning a hole or hollow, hints at the kind of dramatic coastal geography that made such locations attractive to early builders. Promontory forts, known in Irish as dúnna farraige or cliff forts, use the natural defences of a headland, cutting off the landward approach with one or more earthen banks and ditches while the sea does the remaining defensive work on the other sides. They are found all along the Irish Atlantic seaboard, and while many have been studied in detail, a considerable number remain only lightly documented.

Polldrian Fort is one of those sites where the record is thin. Its inclusion among catalogued monuments confirms its recognised status as an archaeological site, but the specific detail that would bring it into sharper focus, its dimensions, the number of its earthworks, any evidence of internal structures or finds, has not yet been made publicly available. What can be said is that promontory forts in the west of Ireland generally date from the Iron Age, roughly 500 BC to 400 AD, though some were reused or modified in early medieval times. The particular character of any individual example depends heavily on the landform it occupies, and Mayo's rugged northwestern coastline offers some of the most pronounced headland topography in the country.

Until fuller documentation becomes available, Polldrian Fort remains something of a geographical fact without a fully written biography. It occupies its headland as it always has, registered but not yet fully narrated.