It sits just north of a field boundary, about ten metres from a pond, and rises only 0.45 metres above the surrounding grass. What makes it worth pausing over is what it is made of: heat-shattered stones and charcoal-rich soil, the residue of repeated, intense burning carried out over a long period in prehistory.

This is a burnt mound, a class of monument found in considerable numbers across Ireland and Britain, and one of the more quietly enigmatic features of the Bronze Age landscape. The working theory, though debate continues among archaeologists, is that these sites were used for heating large quantities of water, most likely by dropping fire-heated stones into a trough or pit. The stones, unable to withstand repeated thermal shock, crack and splinter, and are raked out to form the characteristic mound of shattered material. Some researchers associate the practice with cooking, others with bathing or ritual activity, and many suspect the answer varies from site to site. The Coolacareen example measures fourteen metres north to south and fourteen metres east to west, making it a reasonably substantial specimen, and its proximity to the nearby pond fits a pattern seen at many similar sites, where a reliable water source appears to have been a basic practical requirement.