In 1999, during topsoil stripping in advance of the Little Island to Ballincollig pipeline, excavators uncovered the structure sitting on the lower slopes of a north-north-west to south-south-east ridge. Corn-drying kilns of this type were once a familiar feature of the Irish agricultural landscape, used to dry harvested grain before milling or storage, particularly in a climate where wet summers made field-drying unreliable. What made this one stand out was the completeness of what survived beneath the ground.

The kiln consisted of a lintelled flue, a circular bowl, a stoke-hole, and a fire-pit. The flue ran roughly north-east to south-west, measuring 1.7 metres in length, and was covered by stone lintels, five of which were still in place when the site was uncovered, though the weight of heavy machinery had badly damaged them. The bowl, open at the top, was nearly circular in plan with outwardly sloping sides, which narrowed the floor diameter to between 1.2 and 1.26 metres; the excavator, Clinton, estimated its original height at 0.8 metres. A loosely cobbled layer covered the base of the bowl. Particularly notable was the arrangement of large rocks placed at the point where the bowl met the flue. Clinton interpreted these as a deliberate, if rough, filtering device, intended to stop burning embers from travelling up the flue and into the bowl where the grain would have been placed. Also of interest was the overall layout: rather than the more common keyhole shape, the flue and bowl here were arranged in a P-shaped configuration, which Clinton identified as unusual. The floor of the flue was relatively level throughout, suggesting careful construction despite the modest materials involved.