But the shape these elements describe, once mapped and measured, is distinctive enough to tell a clear story. The overall form is that of a keyhole, a design well established in Irish agricultural archaeology, and one associated with the drying of grain before milling or storage. In a climate as damp as Kerry's, a corn-drying kiln was not a luxury but a practical necessity, allowing harvested grain to be dried thoroughly before it could spoil.

The structure came to light during licensed archaeological test trenching, carried out under licence 16E0136. What began as a small patch of in-situ burning at the end of a trench prompted an expansion of the exposed area to roughly 5.2 metres by 4.9 metres. The kiln itself measured 4.9 metres in overall length. At its northern end sat the probable drying chamber, approximately 2.2 metres east to west and 2 metres deep, lined with rounded cobbles and carrying a layer of charcoal about 10 centimetres thick. Beneath all of this, the natural subsoil had been turned red by sustained heat. From the southwestern corner of the chamber, a flue extended southward for 2.9 metres, narrowing at a point defined by a single large stone before opening out again toward the mouth of the kiln. In a corn-drying kiln of this type, grain would have been spread across a perforated floor above the chamber while hot air from a fire at the mouth travelled up through the flue to dry it. Two possible stake-holes were identified to the east of the kiln, and a small rectangular deposit of silt and stone sat just 30 centimetres from its western edge, possibly the remnant of an associated structure, though neither feature was fully excavated and no finds were recovered.