What makes them quietly odd is the mix of forms: a circular structure at the centre, with a rectangular building to its north-east and another rectangular one to the south-west. Circular domestic buildings and rectangular ones tend to belong to different eras and traditions, so finding all three grouped together within a single enclosure invites speculation about how the site was used and by whom.

The sites were recorded on the Ordnance Survey first edition map, which in Ireland dates to the mid-nineteenth century and represents one of the earliest systematic cartographic surveys of the country. Their presence on that map means they were standing, or at least recognisable as ruins, at the time of the survey. Whether they were already abandoned by then is unknown. The working assumption is that all three structures are relatively modern in archaeological terms, meaning post-1700, though the date remains indeterminate. The circular plan of the central building is the most intriguing element; circular or sub-circular houses in an Irish rural context can sometimes indicate an earlier origin or a vernacular building tradition that persisted in certain regions, but without excavation it is impossible to say more than that.