Yet that is precisely what surveyors found at Grange in 1988, and what they uncovered was the remnant of a fulacht fia, one of the most common yet least understood monument types in the Irish landscape. Fulachtaí fia, sometimes called burnt mounds, are thought to date broadly to the Bronze Age, and they appear in their thousands across Ireland, typically beside water sources. The leading theory is that they served as cooking sites, where stones were heated in a fire and then dropped into a water-filled trough until the water boiled, though some researchers have proposed other uses including bathing or textile production.

The Grange site came to light during Phase 2 of the north-eastern Gas Pipeline investigations, when archaeologists recorded a surface scatter of charcoal-blackened soil mixed with peat-cracked stone, the characteristic debris left behind when stones are repeatedly heated and quenched until they fracture and become useless. The remains measured approximately six metres east to west and five metres north to south, and they formed a penannular shape, meaning an almost complete ring with a gap or opening facing east. A variety of stone types were noted at the site, suggesting either opportunistic collection from the surrounding area or repeated use over time. The findings were documented by Gowen in 1989 and the site was later compiled into the record by Geraldine Stout.

There is little to see at ground level today, and the site sits within a utility corridor rather than any dedicated heritage zone, so a visit in the conventional sense is not really on offer. What the Grange fulacht fia offers instead is a reminder of how much archaeology surfaces only incidentally, when pipes are being laid or roads are being widened. Anyone with an interest in Bronze Age settlement patterns in the Dublin region might find it useful to read the Gowen 1989 report through the relevant archaeological archive, which places this small, unassuming scatter of burnt material into the broader picture of prehistoric activity along the north-eastern fringes of the county.