Known in Irish tradition as a cillín (plural cilliní), such sites were used for centuries to inter infants who, under Catholic doctrine, could not be buried in consecrated ground. They tend to occupy marginal land, boundary zones, old earthworks, or, as here, quiet corners of upland valley floors, places set apart from the living community but still deliberately enclosed and maintained.

The enclosure at Ceapaigh na gCrann is roughly subrectangular in plan, measuring approximately 28.8 metres north to south and 49 metres east to west internally. It is bounded by a low rubble wall, faced on the outside with coursed drystone masonry, averaging about 0.8 metres in external height and 1.4 metres at its base. A slight inturning of the wall face at the south-west corner may mark the position of the original entrance. Part of the eastern wall appears to have been rebuilt at some point, and a considerable accumulation of field clearance stone sits against it on the north-west exterior, suggesting the enclosure has been part of a working agricultural landscape for a long time. The site was documented by A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan in their 1996 archaeological survey of the Iveragh Peninsula, published by Cork University Press.