What makes it quietly odd, beyond its prehistoric origins, is that it was not always standing where it stands now. Local tradition holds that the stone was at some point removed from its position and later put back, making it one of those rare monuments that carries a second chapter of human interference alongside whatever original purpose it served.

Standing stones are among the most enigmatic survivals of prehistoric Ireland, erected as boundary markers, ritual focal points, or memorial stones, though their precise function is rarely recoverable. This particular example at Burnfort does not appear on the 1842 Ordnance Survey six-inch map, which is itself a curious absence, since the OS surveys of that period were generally diligent in noting upright stones. Whether it was hidden by vegetation, already fallen, or simply missed is not known. The stone was photographed and measured by Grove White sometime between 1905 and 1925, who recorded its height as six feet and its greatest width as three feet five inches, figures that correspond reasonably well with the modern measurements of 1.45 metres in height and 1.1 metres across. The stone is set in pasture, its long rectangular face oriented roughly to the northeast and southwest, a alignment that may or may not have carried astronomical significance to whoever first raised it.