They were opened briefly in 1983, seen by the landowner, and then backfilled. Whatever they contained, or revealed, was not recorded in any detail that has since entered the public account. The enclosure above them, a rath or earthen ringfort, sits quietly on a north-facing slope looking out over Dunmanus Bay, and gives little outward sign of what was disturbed beneath it.

Ringforts are the most common type of early medieval monument in Ireland, typically dating from roughly the sixth to the tenth century, and were used as enclosed farmsteads rather than military fortifications. Most consist of a circular earthen bank, sometimes reinforced with stone, surrounding a domestic area. This one measures 24 metres across in both directions, its interior enclosed by an earth and stone bank around 1.2 metres high internally, with a stone-faced scarp to the south reaching about a metre in height. Trees have since been planted along the northern and western sections of the bank, softening its outline from a distance. The underground chambers uncovered in 1983 were souterrains, stone-lined passages or chambers built beneath or alongside ringforts during the early medieval period, most likely for food storage or as places of refuge. Their precise extent here is unknown, as they were backfilled shortly after being exposed.