But the dark clay packed beneath its sod, riddled with small stones likely cracked by repeated heating and cooling, suggests it is the accumulated debris of a fulacht fia, a type of prehistoric cooking site found widely across Ireland and Britain. The basic idea was straightforward: stones were heated in a fire, then dropped into a water-filled trough to bring it to a boil. Over many uses, the shattered, heat-spent stones were piled to the side, building up the characteristic horseshoe or oval mounds that archaeologists now recognise across the Irish landscape.

This particular mound measures roughly 9.7 metres north to south and 6.7 metres east to west, rising to about 0.8 metres on its north and west sides, though the western edge merges softly into the hillside rather than presenting a clean face. The eastern side is the most clearly defined. Several other low mounds share the same field, but they are notably different in character, composed of a lighter clay with no stones, which makes this mound stand out even in a landscape that might otherwise seem unremarkable. Four metres to the west, a bank and ditch runs east to west, carrying fast-flowing water down from the hill and possibly following the line of a channelised stream. That combination of running water close at hand and permanently waterlogged ground immediately east of the mound fits the standard conditions associated with fulacht fia sites, where proximity to a reliable water source was essential. The soggy ground to the east is the most probable location where a wooden or stone-lined trough once held water for heating.