Drystone construction, which relies on carefully fitted unmortared stone, was used across Ireland for centuries, from prehistoric shelters to early medieval hermitages, and the technique makes precise dating difficult without excavation. What is clear here is that whoever built the sheepfold either did not notice the older structure beneath, or simply found it convenient to build on top of it.

The hut sits on a level terrace, a relatively sheltered position on an otherwise open hillside, which would have made it an appealing spot for habitation or temporary shelter at almost any point in the past. Two lamb shelters occur nearby, small low enclosures used to protect young animals from the elements, suggesting that the area has been used for pastoral farming for some considerable time. A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan, who catalogued the site as part of their archaeological survey of South Kerry published by Cork University Press in 1996, recorded the remains in their present, heavily degraded condition. The layering of uses here, early hut, later sheepfold, lamb shelters, is a quiet illustration of how the same patch of ground can be put to work by successive generations without anyone necessarily knowing what came before.