A fish palace, despite its grand title, was no royal hall; it was a practical shore-based facility for processing and curing pilchards, the small oily fish that were caught in enormous quantities off the south-west of Ireland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The cured fish were then packed in barrels and exported, largely to Catholic markets in southern Europe where demand was highest during periods of religious fasting.

The site was noted by Went in 1946, who recorded the local tradition that the curing station had been operated by the 'Spaniards', pointing to the well-documented commercial presence of Spanish and other continental merchants along this stretch of the Irish coast during the pilchard boom. Spanish buyers and processors were active participants in the trade, and their involvement left a trace not only in the historical record but, apparently, in living memory and local place-names. When the land was ploughed at some point before the mid-twentieth century, the foundations of buildings came to light, confirming that structures had once stood here. Nothing is visible above ground today; the site sits in ordinary pasture with no surface trace remaining to hint at the activity that once took place there.