That combination, an officially recognised site with almost nothing written about it, is itself a kind of minor puzzle. Mounds of this type in the Irish midlands and west can range enormously in origin and purpose, from prehistoric burial mounds raised over the dead thousands of years ago, to Anglo-Norman mottes, the earthen platforms on which timber castles were built following the twelfth-century invasion, to natural glacial features that were later incorporated into local tradition or land use.

Without further detail in the record, it is not possible to say with confidence which category this particular mound belongs to, or when it was first raised. Pollsharvoge is a small townland, and like many in Mayo it carries a name rooted in Irish, though the precise meaning here is not easily pinned down without specialist knowledge of local placename scholarship. What can be said is that the mound was considered significant enough to be included in the national register of archaeological monuments, a designation that at minimum reflects a judgement that something artificial or archaeologically meaningful is present.