The depression, measuring roughly 1.6 metres north to south and 3 metres east to west, sits just south of a stream and a townland boundary, and is cupped within a low, horseshoe-shaped mound of blackened earth and burnt stone. It is the kind of feature that could easily be walked past without a second thought, yet it represents a type of monument found in enormous numbers across Ireland and one that archaeologists still find genuinely puzzling.

A fulacht fia is the Irish term for a burnt mound site, typically dating to the Bronze Age, though some examples span into the early medieval period. The standard interpretation is that these were outdoor cooking places: stones would be heated in a fire, then dropped into a water-filled trough to bring it to the boil, and meat, wrapped in straw or hide, would be lowered in to cook. The spent, shattered stones were raked out after each use and piled to the side, which is exactly what the crescent-shaped mound here represents. The concentration of material along the southern edge at Ballingowan suggests the discarded stone accumulated most heavily there, perhaps owing to the habit of working from one direction or simply the lie of the land. The proximity to the stream is entirely typical; reliable water was essential to the whole process, and fulachta fiadh are almost always found close to a watercourse or boggy ground.