Its two arches are semicircular in form, a shape that places this structure in a long tradition of masonry bridgebuilding reaching back through medieval Europe. Semicircular arches, as opposed to the flatter elliptical arches that became more common in later centuries, distribute load in a particular way and require careful construction. What makes this example quietly notable is that its voussoirs, the wedge-shaped stones that form the arch itself, are described as roughly cut, suggesting the work of local hands using local material rather than the dressed stonework of a more formally engineered project.

The bridge spans the Owenbawn river and measures 6.4 metres in width, enough to carry a road of modest but practical dimensions. The Owenbawn drains a stretch of north Cork upland before meeting the valleys that feed eventually towards the Lee. Bridges of this type were often built incrementally by local effort or under the direction of Grand Juries, the administrative bodies that managed public infrastructure in Ireland before the twentieth century, and the roughly worked stone here may reflect that practical, unsentimental tradition of getting a crossing built with what was at hand. No precise construction date appears in the available record, which itself is a kind of information, pointing to a structure old enough and ordinary enough that nobody thought to write it down at the time.