A clochán is a dry-stone corbelled hut, built without mortar, in which each course of stone projects slightly inward until the walls meet at the top, forming a beehive-shaped chamber. They are found in some numbers along the western seaboard of Ireland, often associated with early Christian monasticism, though their dates and purposes vary considerably from site to site. What makes this particular grouping quietly notable is simply the number: seven together in one place is not a casual scattering.

The record of these structures derives from the Corca Dhuibhne archaeological survey of the Dingle Peninsula, published in 1986, which documented the site from the first edition Ordnance Survey mapping. That first edition survey, carried out in the mid-nineteenth century, captured landscape features that were already ancient, and in some cases structures recorded then have since deteriorated or disappeared entirely. Whether these seven clochán at Fán survive in any form above ground today is not clear from the available record.