This is a ring barrow, a type of prehistoric funerary monument consisting of a raised earthen platform, in this case roughly circular and just under sixteen metres across, defined at its edge by a low eroded scarp. Protruding from the base of that scarp, particularly along the eastern arc, are large and medium-sized stones that appear to be the remnants of a kerb or stone facing, the kind of deliberate edging that would once have given the monument a more formal, finished appearance. There is also a faint depression running outside the scarp on the western and northern sides, possibly the trace of a fosse, a surrounding ditch that is a common feature of such monuments and would have helped define the sacred or ceremonial boundary of the burial space.

Ring barrows belong broadly to the Bronze Age tradition of monument building, though examples span a wide range of periods. They were typically used as burial monuments, sometimes covering cremated remains, sometimes marking a place of repeated ritual significance. This particular example has not been excavated, so what lies beneath the flat top remains unknown. What is clear is its setting. The ground falls away gradually to the east, opening out across gently undulating terrain, while to the west-southwest the summit of Croagh Patrick is visible on the horizon above the spine of the Partry Mountains. Whether that alignment was intentional is impossible to say, but the view would not have been lost on whoever chose this spot. A second possible barrow sits roughly ten metres to the southeast, suggesting this may have been part of a small funerary landscape rather than an isolated monument.