The structure is modest by any measure, just three metres across, but what makes it quietly arresting is precisely that modesty. This was not a fort or a church or a monument built to impress. It was, in all likelihood, where someone lived, or sheltered, or worked.

The hut sits on a natural terrace above Cloonaghlin Lough, in an area known as Macha Ghrianáin, set in rough pasture with the lough spread out below. Its walls are built in drystone, a technique requiring no mortar, relying instead on the careful selection and placement of stones so that they hold one another in position through weight and friction alone. Despite being partially collapsed, the lower courses survive well enough to show that the original construction was careful work. The wall still stands to about 0.7 metres in height and measures 0.65 metres thick, substantial proportions for a structure of this scale. The bog has crept up around it over time, so that the stonework now protrudes above the surrounding peat rather than rising cleanly from the ground. Inside, the floor level remains intact, though rubble has accumulated across it. The entrance, just 0.6 metres wide, opens to the east, a common orientation in early Irish structures and one that would have caught the morning light.