Spanning just over seven metres from end to end, the row at Knockaclarig is modest even by the standards of Irish prehistoric stone alignments, and not all of the stones are firmly set in the ground any longer. What makes the spot quietly arresting is not scale but context: within a radius of roughly fifty metres, the row sits in the company of what appear to be the remains of a hospital, a church, and a burial site, a concentration of monument types that suggests this spur of land above the Breanagh was returned to again and again across very different periods of human activity.

Stone rows of this kind, typically two to six uprights placed in a line, are found across Munster and are generally assigned to the Bronze Age, though precise dating remains difficult. They are often found in upland or marginal ground, oriented towards significant points on the horizon, and associated loosely with ritual or ceremonial use, though their exact purpose is not understood. At Knockaclarig, the four stones vary slightly in height and thickness, the tallest reaching just under a metre, and they are spaced at irregular intervals along the alignment. The measurements recorded for each stone suggest relatively modest, unworked slabs rather than the tall dramatic monoliths seen at better-known examples elsewhere in Cork and Kerry. The nearby church and burial remains would belong to a much later, Christian phase of the landscape's history, while the structure described as a hospital may refer to a medieval term for a hospice or charitable house rather than a modern medical facility.