That uncertainty is the point. When excavations were carried out in 1985, the structure was recorded near Teampall Bheanáin, a tiny early medieval church so small it is often cited as one of the smallest in the world, and beside a clochan, the dry-stone beehive hut associated with early Christian monastic life in Ireland. The structure itself measured roughly 4.6 metres north to south and 2.34 metres east to west, with large stones surviving to two courses on its long sides. The north end was entirely open; the south end had large boulders loosely aligned with a central gap just 0.4 metres wide. Inside, loose rubble lay directly over solid rock.

The excavation, conducted by Manning, recovered no finds at all from the interior, which left the fundamental question unanswered: was this a rough building of some kind, or simply a raised platform? The distinction matters more than it might seem. A platform could suggest a working surface or a base for something now entirely gone, while a building implies shelter or habitation, however rudimentary. The two courses of stonework that survive give the impression of walls, but the open northern end and the loosely arranged boulders at the south resist any tidy interpretation. Placed between two more legible early Christian monuments, this structure occupies its own quiet category, noted, measured, and left unresolved.