The feature may be a boat naust, a type of shore-side recess used for hauling and sheltering vessels out of the water, a common enough arrangement in early medieval Ireland but rarely so legibly preserved alongside monastic remains. What makes this particular hollow worth attention is not just its shape but its position, cut directly into the shoreline as if designed to receive something arriving by water.

The ground itself offers only partial answers, but the place-name recorded on the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map adds a layer of suggestion. The point immediately adjacent is marked as Corraphortanarla Point, and its constituent parts carry meaning. The element phort in Irish can denote a harbour or landing place, lending some weight to the idea that this was once a functioning point of arrival and departure, even if its precise antiquity remains unknown. The Corra element is equally suggestive, pointing toward the possible presence of a fishing weir along the shoreline, a structure that would have used fixed barriers or traps to catch fish in the shallows. Together with a projecting feature visible on high-resolution satellite imagery of the site, the earthwork and the name conspire to sketch out a small but purposeful waterfront, one that served the monastic community on Inchcleraun across some unknown stretch of centuries.