The clochan, sometimes spelled clochán, is a type of dry-stone corbelled hut, built without mortar by stacking flat stones so that each course projects slightly inward until the walls meet overhead, forming a beehive-shaped cell. This one is circular, roughly three metres in diameter, and notable for what appears to be a subsidiary chamber extending to the east, suggesting it may have been more than a single bare cell.

R. A. S. Macalister noted the site in 1899, placing it within a landscape on the Corca Dhuibhne peninsula that is exceptionally dense with early medieval and prehistoric remains. Clochans of this kind are closely associated with early Christian monasticism in Ireland, particularly in the far west, where communities of monks built clusters of these cells on exposed headlands and islands. Whether this example at Fán was monastic, agricultural, or domestic in function is not recorded. The possible subsidiary chamber to the east is an intriguing detail; some clochans were extended over time as additional spaces were needed, and the presence of more than one cell can hint at a site that saw prolonged or varied use. At roughly three metres across, the main chamber would have been a tight but workable space, consistent with the scale of comparable structures elsewhere on the peninsula.