These small stone structures, known in Irish as \'tigh allais\', functioned as a kind of rudimentary sauna: a fire would be lit inside, the ashes raked out, and a person suffering from rheumatism or other ailments would crawl in through the low entrance and sweat out their complaint in the residual heat. They are found scattered across Ireland, particularly in the north and west, and represent a vernacular medical tradition that predates any formal healthcare infrastructure by centuries.

Sweathouses tend to be corbelled or roughly vaulted, built from local stone without mortar, and are often small enough that an adult can barely sit upright inside. Their exact origins are debated, but many are thought to date from the early medieval period, with some remaining in use into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Their survival in the landscape is often a matter of accident, the structures being too small and solid to bother demolishing, tucked into hillsides or field margins where they went unremarked for generations. The example at Shanballymore is recorded as a monument, placing it within a wider pattern of such sites across Connacht, though the specifics of its construction, condition, and local history remain to be fully documented.