Look more closely and the illusion breaks down. The incised grooves cannot be followed as a single continuous line; instead, the three innermost rings form complete circles around a small raised boss at the centre, while the outer rings trail off into discontinuous arcs, interrupted by ridges and rough patches in the stone surface. The gaps between the lines vary in width, the lines themselves vary in depth, and the overall effect is of something that almost resolves into a familiar prehistoric motif but refuses to do so cleanly.

The slab itself is roughly rectangular, about a metre long and less than thirty centimetres wide, embedded flat in the ground on an east-facing slope in the west corner of a grazing field. Concentric-ring carvings of this kind are a recognised form of prehistoric rock art found across Ireland and Britain, typically associated with the Neolithic or Bronze Age, though the term covers a broad and not fully understood tradition. What complicates any confident reading of this particular stone is that it is clearly not in its original location. Whether it was moved during agricultural work, incorporated into some later structure and then discarded, or shifted for reasons now unrecoverable, nobody knows. Its history before it came to rest here is entirely blank. The carving lies about ten metres south-south-west of a holy well, which adds a further layer of ambiguity; the proximity could be coincidental, or it might reflect a much later repurposing of a stone that was already old and enigmatic when it was moved.