That ambiguity is, in its own way, the most interesting thing about the site. If the arc were completed into a full circle, its diameter would measure approximately 15 metres, which is a plausible size for a Bronze Age monument. But plausibility is not proof, and the stones have sat in their quiet uncertainty beside Lough Gur for decades without anyone settling the matter.

The arc was formally described in 1944 by archaeologist M. J. O'Kelly, who noted that it sits just 6 metres to the south-east of a D-shaped ringfort, a type of enclosed settlement defined by an earthen bank and, in this case, a fosse, or defensive ditch, cut into the steep northern slope of the hill. O'Kelly observed something potentially significant: if the stone circle had once been complete and was already standing when the ringfort was constructed, a large portion of it would now lie beneath the fort's earthen banks. He was careful not to overstate this, noting there was no evidence to confirm the sequence. The ringfort itself sits within a denser cluster of ancient features, including an associated field system of earthen banks and small enclosures on the hillside, a cashel (a stone-walled enclosure) roughly 195 metres to the north, and a further stone circle 50 metres to the west. A crannóg, an artificial island dwelling, sits in Lough Gur 300 metres to the west, and Garret Island lies roughly 180 metres to the south across the water. The first edition Ordnance Survey six-inch map shows the ringfort standing right at the water's edge, a reminder that the shoreline of Lough Gur has shifted since the nineteenth century.

The ringfort is a National Monument in state ownership, and the broader Lough Gur landscape is well known to anyone with an interest in Irish prehistory. The arc of stones lies to the south-east of the ringfort on a south-facing slope at the base of Knockfennell Hill, close to the north-western shore of the lake. Aerial photography shows the D-shaped outline of the fort clearly, with what may be the arc visible as small pale marks to its south-east. On the ground, the stones are low and unassuming, easily missed without prior knowledge of where to look. Loughgur House stands about 300 metres to the north-west, which helps orient a visitor approaching from that direction.