Its roofstones have long since shifted from their original positions and now lie to the north of the structure, while a prostrate slab rests outside the western end. What remains in place is enough to read the monument's original intention, but only just.

Wedge tombs are the most numerous megalithic tomb type in Ireland, built during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, roughly between 2500 and 2000 BC. They take their name from their characteristic shape, wider and higher at the western or south-western end and narrowing toward the east, which is precisely the orientation found here. The gallery at Kilberrihert measures just 1.85 metres in length and narrows from one metre at the western entrance to 0.9 metres at the eastern end, where an inset backstone closes the chamber. Three overlapping sidestones survive to the north and south of the gallery, and the whole structure is enclosed by closely set outer walling and surrounded by a low earthen mound. That a second wedge tomb stands only 450 metres to the north-east makes this corner of mid Cork unusually rich for monuments of this type, whatever the reasons for their proximity, whether shared territory, a common burial community, or simply the appeal of this particular hillside to the people who built here.