The trough, measuring roughly 1.6 metres by 1.15 metres, is a fulacht fia, a type of ancient outdoor cooking site found in great numbers throughout the country. The principle was straightforward: stones were heated in a fire, then dropped into a water-filled trough to bring it to the boil, after which meat could be cooked. The stones, repeatedly heated and plunged into cold water, eventually shattered, and it is precisely these heat-fractured fragments, along with charcoal-rich deposits, that archaeologists look for when identifying such sites.

This particular example came to light not through a dedicated research dig but through monitoring work carried out in connection with the Rush and Lusk Waste Water Treatment Scheme, operating under excavation licence 10E0121. That kind of infrastructure project, running pipes and cables through agricultural land, frequently turns up archaeology that would otherwise go unrecorded for years. Alongside the trough itself, excavators identified an associated stake-hole, suggesting some form of timber structure or working frame once stood nearby. The findings were reported by McQuade in 2011, and the site was compiled for the archaeological record by Christine Baker in February 2015. Its position on elevated ground overlooking the estuary is a detail worth noting; fulachta fiadh are most often found near water sources, and the proximity to the estuary would have made this a practical spot for the sustained water supply such cooking required.

The site sits within the broader coastal landscape of Fingal, north of Dublin, where the Rogerstown estuary is now recognised as an important natural area. There is no formal public access to the excavated site itself, and little to see above ground once monitoring work has concluded. For those interested in the wider context, the estuary and its surroundings reward a visit on foot, and knowing that the ridge above it was once a working prehistoric cooking place adds a quiet layer to what might otherwise seem like unremarkable farmland.