Between fifteen and twenty hut sites, each averaging roughly ten metres in diameter and defined by low stone walls, are scattered across an area measuring approximately 360 metres east to west and 330 metres north to south. That is a considerable footprint for what was, by any measure, a modest settlement, and the irregularity of the structures themselves suggests organic growth rather than any planned arrangement.

The huts sit within an extensive associated field system, meaning this was not simply a place where people sheltered but somewhere they farmed and managed land over a sustained period. Hut sites of this kind, loosely circular or oval enclosures built from stacked or piled stone, are found across upland Ireland and are often associated with seasonal grazing activity, though permanent occupation is equally possible depending on the period. The settlement at Coolnatullagh came to broader attention when researcher Ros Ó Maoldúin identified it from satellite imagery, specifically Digital Globe coverage captured between 2011 and 2013. That such a spread of remains could remain largely unrecorded until spotted from above says something about how much of the Irish upland landscape still awaits systematic ground-level examination.