From the air it reads as a deliberate mark on the landscape, which is exactly what it is. The circle is enclosed by a stone wall standing about a metre high, and at its centre sits a man-made mound whose origins remain genuinely uncertain: it may be a prehistoric tumulus, the kind of ancient burial feature that was sometimes absorbed and remodelled by later estate designers, or it may be an artificial earthwork constructed specifically as a garden ornament. That ambiguity is part of what makes it worth attention.

The feature belongs to the demesne lands of Mount Dalton House, now known as Loughazon Hall, which lies roughly 260 metres to the south-east. The 1837 Ordnance Survey six-inch map shows the circular tree-plantation clearly, centred on the hilltop, and the accompanying OS Fair Plan from the same year carries the annotation 'Loughan Spire', suggesting it was understood at the time as an intended landscape feature rather than a natural curiosity. Tree-rings of this kind were a recognisable element of eighteenth and nineteenth-century designed landscapes in Ireland, used by estate owners to ornament high ground, create eye-catchers visible from the house, and impose a sense of order on the surrounding countryside. The knoll here, with its good views in all directions, would have served that purpose well. Whether the mound at the centre was already present and simply incorporated into the design, or was constructed as part of it, has not been settled.