Stepping stones of this kind represent a form of river crossing that predates bridges by centuries, possibly millennia, requiring little more than a reliable shallow ford, a steady hand in placing the stones, and the patience of anyone crossing in wet weather with dry boots they hoped to keep that way.

The stones here are described as well-preserved, which for a river crossing exposed to seasonal water levels and the general indignity of regular use is no small thing. The River Beheenagh runs through Kerry's southwest, a county not short of watercourses threading through boggy and hilly ground where a crossing at the right point could make the difference between a reasonable journey and a long detour. Whether the stones were laid for daily farm use, to connect communities on either bank, or to serve some older pattern of movement across the land is not recorded. What survives is the physical fact of them: fifteen stones, still in place, still spanning the river.