The cist, a small stone-lined grave box of a type common in Bronze Age Ireland, sits at the lip of a high ridge overlooking the Skerries coastline, yet it is not visible at ground level. Only those who already know it is there are likely to notice anything at all. That invisibility is part of what makes it interesting: whoever chose this spot selected it with obvious deliberateness, positioning the burial at a point from which, on a clear day, the Mourne Mountains are visible to the north, the islands off Skerries lie to the east, and Lambay Island sits to the southeast. Whether that orientation meant anything ceremonially, or whether it simply reflects the natural logic of a prominent hilltop, is not something the ground can now tell us.

The site came to light in 1922 during ploughing operations, a common enough way for prehistoric burials to surface in agricultural Ireland. A cist grave of this kind typically consists of a pit lined and capped with flat slabs, used to hold a crouched or cremated burial, sometimes accompanied by a ceramic vessel. The capstone at Baltrasna was recorded as still visible in 1939, according to a National Museum of Ireland file dated 11 May of that year, suggesting the structure retained some surface presence for at least a generation after discovery. The record was later compiled by Geraldine Stout and updated by Christine Baker as part of ongoing archaeological survey work.

Accessing the site requires finding your way to the ridge at Baltrasna, where the views alone make the walk worthwhile. Because the monument is not visible from ground level, it is worth consulting the Sites and Monuments Record before visiting to get a precise sense of the location. The surrounding landscape is open and elevated, so sightlines are long in most directions. The best conditions for appreciating the setting are on days when visibility is good enough to pick out Lambay to the south and the faint outline of the Mournes beyond the Skerries islands to the north, the same panorama that would have been familiar to whoever placed a burial here several thousand years ago.