Heather has grown over most of it, and it never appeared on any edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map, meaning it passed through generations of cartographic attention without once being marked down. That absence alone makes it quietly notable.

The mound is a fulacht fia, a type of prehistoric cooking site found in considerable numbers across Ireland, typically dating from the Bronze Age. The usual interpretation is that stones were heated in a fire and then dropped into a water-filled trough to bring the water to a boil, with the crescent or horseshoe shape of the mound formed by the gradual accumulation of discarded, heat-shattered stone. At Dunowla, shattered sandstone and charcoal-rich soil are both visible in section where the southern bank of the stream has been cut away, giving a rare cross-sectional glimpse into the fabric of the site. The maximum dimension of the mound is around ten metres, modest by any measure, but enough to confirm the characteristic materials and form that identify these sites.