The site is a ring barrow, a type of funerary mound typically dating to the Bronze Age, in which a central earthen mound was enclosed by a circular ditch, or fosse, and sometimes an outer bank. At Glentanedowney, the circular area still measurable on the ground runs roughly 9.6 metres north to south and 10.6 metres east to west, and the faint dip at its perimeter is the last visible trace of that outer fosse.

What makes the site slightly more legible is a note recorded by Bowman in 1934, before the levelling took place. At that point the mound itself had a base diameter of around 16 feet, with a surrounding enclosure measuring 32 feet across. More striking still, a circle of stones had once ringed the base of the mound, though Bowman noted it had already been removed years before his visit. Stone kerbing of this kind is not uncommon around Irish Bronze Age barrows, serving both a structural and a possibly ceremonial function, but its removal here long preceded modern record-keeping, so its full character is unknown. The site does not stand alone in the landscape either; a second ring barrow lies approximately 230 metres to the north-west, suggesting this corner of North Cork was a place of some significance to the communities who buried their dead here, perhaps over many generations.