A cairn, in its simplest form, is a mound of heaped stones, often prehistoric in origin and associated with burial or territorial marking. This one is roughly circular in plan, about ten metres across and four metres high, and built of loose stone rather than shaped masonry. What makes it unusual is not only its condition but the evidence of interference: six large boulders near the base on its eastern side appear to have been thrown there, displaced from wherever they once sat, and some of the cairn's own material has been rearranged at its top to form a small secondary enclosure, barely a metre wide and a metre tall.

The cairn overlooks a small lake to the north-west, a setting that feels less incidental than deliberate, as many prehistoric monuments in Ireland were positioned in relation to water or to long sightlines across the landscape. The structure is described as fairly well preserved, which is notable given the exposure of a mountain summit and the apparent disturbance to parts of it. The six displaced boulders in the eastern sector suggest some episode of digging or investigation, possibly by treasure hunters, a common cause of cairn disturbance in Ireland, though no record of what, if anything, was found survives in what is known about the site. The small enclosure built from the cairn's own stone at the summit is harder to interpret; it may be the work of a later shepherd seeking a windbreak, or something more deliberate, though the notes offer no firm answer.