Built without mortar, these corbelled structures were constructed by gradually overlapping flat stones inward until they met at the top, forming a self-supporting dome. They appear across the Iveragh and Dingle peninsulas in varying states of survival, but a group of seven in one location suggests a settlement of some significance, perhaps a monastic enclosure or a concentration of agricultural shelters.

The group at Fán was documented in the 1986 Corca Dhuibhne archaeological survey compiled by J. Cuppage, a systematic study of the Dingle Peninsula that catalogued the extraordinary density of early medieval and prehistoric remains in what was, and to some extent remains, an Irish-speaking district. That survey drew together evidence from fieldwork and historical mapping, and the first edition Ordnance Survey maps it references date from the mid-nineteenth century, meaning the clochans were visible and countable at that point, even if their condition today is less certain. Whether all seven survive in recognisable form is not recorded in the available material.