Five-stone circles are a distinctly Irish monument type, concentrated heavily in Cork and Kerry, and they follow a consistent pattern: a matched pair of portal stones, two flanking stones, and a lower, recumbent axial stone set opposite the portals. That axial stone is thought to have been aligned deliberately with astronomical events on the horizon, and at Rylane the main axis runs northeast to southwest, a orientation shared by many of its regional cousins.

The circle is modest in scale but carefully constructed. The upright orthostats, the individual standing stones that form the ring, range from one to just over two metres in length and reach about a metre in height, with the characteristic graduation in height from the taller portal stones down to the lower axial. The interior diameter along the main axis measures 3.5 metres. At some point the interior was filled with loose field stones, a common fate for small circles that sat within working farmland, where cleared field stone needed somewhere to go. A loose slab also lies between the axial stone and the western sidestone, its original position uncertain. The monument was catalogued by Sean O Nualláin in 1984, whose systematic survey of Cork and Kerry stone circles remains a foundational reference for the type.

The circle sits on the southwestern side of the Rylane River and is set within flat pasture, which means the surrounding landscape offers little visual drama but does give a clear sense of how these monuments were sometimes placed in open, low-lying ground rather than on prominent hilltops. The stones are low and the site understated; it rewards patience and a close eye rather than an immediate impression.