Most of it is now open to the sky and choked with rubble, but a short roofed section at the western end, roughly two metres long, still disappears under the ancient stonework in the way it was originally intended, offering a glimpse of how these structures once functioned as concealed refuges or storage spaces.

A souterrain is a man-made underground passage or chamber, typically associated with early medieval settlement in Ireland, usually constructed from drystone and used for food storage, shelter, or escape in times of danger. This one at Caherateige measures 8.4 metres in total length and sits within a cashel, the term for a stone-walled enclosure of the kind common across the west of Ireland from the early medieval period onward. The passage was recorded by McCaffrey in 1952, who noted its position and basic form. What makes the site quietly suggestive is a detail at the eastern end: a short run of drystone revetment angles off to the south, hinting that a second passage may once have branched away from the main one. That possibility remains unconfirmed, but the physical evidence is enough to raise the question of a more complex arrangement beneath ground than what survives today.