It is composed almost entirely of burnt and fire-cracked stone, the characteristic debris of a fulacht fia, the Irish term for a type of Bronze Age cooking site found in enormous numbers across the Irish countryside. The principle was straightforward: stones were heated in a fire, dropped into a water-filled trough to bring it rapidly to a boil, and used for cooking, possibly for bathing or industrial processes as well. When the stones cracked from thermal shock they were discarded, and over repeated use they accumulated into the horseshoe mound that survives today.

What makes this particular example quietly notable is its local density. A survey by Bowman in 1934 recorded nineteen fulachta fiadh within this single townland, suggesting that Ballyhoolahan was a place of sustained prehistoric activity rather than a chance stopping point. The mound here measures approximately seven metres north to south and 8.7 metres east to west, dimensions consistent with a well-used site. It has not, however, come down to us entirely intact. According to local information, the mound was partially levelled around 1964, which accounts for its present modest height and likely the loss of some archaeological detail that might otherwise have helped date or interpret it more precisely.