Wedge tombs are the most numerous type of megalithic tomb in Ireland, built during the late Neolithic and into the early Bronze Age, roughly four to five thousand years ago. The name comes from their shape: the burial gallery is typically wider and higher at the entrance end and tapers towards the rear, like a stone wedge driven into the landscape. They are almost always oriented towards the west or south-west, a pattern that has prompted much speculation about the significance of the setting sun to those who built them.

The primary scholarly record for this tomb comes from the fieldwork of Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, published in 1961 as the first volume of their Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland, which focused on County Clare. That volume remains a foundational document for understanding the distribution and condition of megalithic monuments in the region. Clare has a notably high concentration of wedge tombs, and de Valera and Ó Nualláin's systematic survey brought many sites like the one at Leckaun into the documented record for the first time, recording their dimensions, structural condition, and setting.