No earthwork, no depression, no marker of any kind breaks the surface of the field. The souterrain here, an underground passage or chamber cut directly into the earth and typically associated with early medieval settlement in Ireland, was entirely unknown until 1978, when the removal of a field fence brought it to light by accident.

What the fence-clearance revealed, according to local information gathered at the time, was a single earth-cut chamber. These structures were built, usually between roughly the sixth and twelfth centuries, for purposes that likely included storage and refuge, taking advantage of the stable cool temperatures underground. The Curranashingane example is modest in what is recorded of it, but its very plainness is part of what makes it quietly notable. It left no trace on the landscape above, surviving only because farming activity happened to intersect with it at the right moment. Perhaps more striking still is the fact that it does not appear to be alone: a second souterrain has been recorded approximately 180 metres to the south-east, suggesting that this particular stretch of West Cork ground holds more early medieval activity than its unremarkable surface would ever suggest.