A cairn is simply a mound of stones, often prehistoric in origin, raised as a burial marker or territorial signal. This one measures roughly four metres across and stands only about sixty centimetres high, its outline preserved by a kerb of contiguous slabs running from the north-east around to the south, slabs that still protrude just enough above the boggy ground to trace the monument's original edge. It is modest by any measure, and its modesty is part of what makes it interesting.

The setting complicates any easy dismissal of the site. The hillslope looks south over Glengarriff Harbour and across to Whiddy Island, a view that would have carried practical meaning for whoever raised this structure, whether as a marker visible from below or simply a place chosen for its commanding position above the inlet. The stones themselves are a mixture of types, which suggests the cairn was built from whatever the immediate landscape offered rather than from any single quarried source. Some of those stones appear to have been removed and repurposed at some point, likely incorporated into an animal shelter that stands about fifteen metres to the east. That kind of quiet cannibalisation is common around prehistoric monuments in Ireland, where later farming communities had little reason to treat old stonework as anything other than a convenient building supply.