It is a clochan, the Irish term for a corbelled drystone hut, built without mortar, its walls laid in overlapping courses that gradually close inward to form a beehive-shaped roof. This particular example is oval in plan, measuring between 1.9 and 2.85 metres across and standing 2.2 metres high, with walls roughly 0.8 metres thick. What makes it slightly awkward to read, historically speaking, is that the walling is notably irregular, and local information suggests the structure has been considerably rebuilt in recent years. The entrance gap on the south-east side has been defaced, meaning its original form and dimensions are no longer clearly legible.

Clochans of this type are scattered across the Dingle Peninsula, a landscape that preserves an unusually dense concentration of early medieval and prehistoric remains. They are associated broadly with early Christian monastic activity and with secular settlement, though individual examples are rarely easy to date without excavation. The Gleann Fán example was recorded by J. Cuppage in the 1986 archaeological survey of the Corca Dhuibhne region, a landmark survey of the Dingle Peninsula that catalogued hundreds of monuments across the area. The irregularity noted in the walling is a useful reminder that ancient-looking structures are not always entirely ancient; rebuilding, whether for agricultural use, shelter, or simple tidying-up, has altered many such sites across the west of Ireland, sometimes obscuring as much as it preserves.