The spot is unassuming from a distance, just a low mound with beech trees on its slopes, but it served as the private burial ground of a single family, the Knoxes of Rappa Castle, and all the graves appear to date from a single century, the nineteenth.

The knoll itself is a natural landform, running roughly sixty to seventy metres north to south and around forty-five to fifty metres across, with sides that have slumped gently over time, particularly to the east and south-west. It stands about two and a half metres above the surrounding ground at its northern end and rises to roughly four and a half metres at the south. A low bank or scarp marks its base, most clearly visible on the southern side, and the eastern flank has been partly quarried away at some point, giving the mound a slightly asymmetrical profile. The flat top, measuring approximately 22.6 metres north to south and 16.5 metres east to west, was evidently chosen deliberately; it offers clear sightlines in several directions, particularly to the south-west, where Nephin and the Nephin Beg Range fill the horizon. Whether that prospect was part of the appeal to the Knox family is not recorded, but the choice of such a prominent, visually open position for a private burial ground was not unusual among landed families of the period, who often favoured elevated or distinctive natural features rather than the churchyard shared with their tenants.