Court tombs, sometimes called court cairns, are Neolithic megalithic structures typically consisting of an open semicircular or oval forecourt leading into one or more roofed gallery chambers, all set within a long cairn of stone. They are among the earliest monumental constructions in Ireland, generally dated to roughly 4000 to 3500 BC, and they cluster with particular density across the northern half of the country, with Mayo holding a notable share of the surviving examples.

The primary scholarly record for this site comes from the survey carried out by Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, published in 1964 as part of their systematic county-by-county cataloguing of megalithic tombs across Ireland. That volume on County Mayo remains a foundational reference for anyone trying to understand the distribution and condition of these monuments in the west. The townland name Cartronmacmanus itself is of interest, cartron being an old land measure derived from the Irish ceathrú, meaning a quarter division of a larger unit, suggesting the area was subdivided and named under a system that predates modern administrative boundaries by several centuries.