A clochan is a dry-stone beehive hut, a type of early medieval structure associated with hermit monks and pastoral farmers, built without mortar and corbelled inward course by course until the walls meet at the top. The word itself is Irish, and examples survive in reasonable numbers along the Atlantic seaboard. This particular one, however, may not survive at all. Surveyors who went looking for it could not find it.

The site appears in the archaeological record for the Iveragh Peninsula under the category of hut site, described only as reputedly situated at this location on the northern slopes of Knocknadobar. That single qualifier, reputedly, carries some weight. It suggests the structure was known through local tradition or earlier documentation rather than direct observation, and that when fieldworkers went to verify it, the ground offered nothing conclusive. Whether it was demolished, overgrown beyond recognition, or simply mislocated in the original account is not recorded. Knocknadobar itself is a significant hill rising above the village of Cahersiveen, and its slopes would not be an unusual setting for such a structure; the peninsula is scattered with early ecclesiastical and vernacular remains. But this one remains, for now, unconfirmed.