A promontory fort works by turning geography into fortification: a headland or coastal spur is cut off from the mainland by one or more earthen banks and ditches, leaving the sea to do the defensive work on the remaining sides. The result is an enclosure that required far less labour than a fully enclosed ringfort, and the coastal examples along Cork and Kerry represent some of the most dramatic surviving examples of this approach anywhere in Ireland.

Promontory forts are generally associated with the Iron Age, though many continued in use or were adapted across several centuries, and some may overlie even earlier activity. The Cork coastline is particularly well furnished with them, owing to the deeply indented shoreline that provides natural candidates for this kind of occupation. The specific history of the Loughane More example, including when it was built, who used it, and what survives of its earthworks today, remains to be fully documented in the published record.