That accidental removal exposed what turned out to be a souterrain, an underground passage or chamber built from stone and roofed with flat lintels, typically constructed during the early medieval period as a place of refuge, food storage, or concealment. The chamber has since been declared inaccessible, which means the brief, unplanned moment of its uncovering may be the closest it has come to human eyes in centuries.

The souterrain sits within the bounds of an associated ringfort, the circular enclosures of raised earthen banks that were the standard farmstead form in early medieval Ireland, roughly from the fifth to the twelfth century. It is not unusual to find souterrains tucked inside ringforts; the two features were often built in combination, with the underground chamber accessible from within the protected enclosure above. What is slightly unusual here is that the souterrain's existence only came to light through accident rather than deliberate excavation, which raises the quiet possibility that other such chambers remain concealed beneath similar sites across Cork and beyond, waiting on an equally unplanned disturbance to announce themselves.