It measures roughly eight metres north to south and seven metres east to west, rising only half a metre above the surrounding ground, the kind of feature that could be walked past without a second glance. What gives it away, to anyone who knows what to look for, are its two openings, each four metres wide and both facing northwest, the classic signature of a fulacht fia.

A fulacht fia, sometimes also written fulacht fiadh, is a type of ancient cooking or processing site found in enormous numbers across Ireland, with Cork among the most densely scattered counties. The typical arrangement involves a trough, often timber-lined, filled with water, which was then heated by dropping fire-cracked stones into it. Those stones, once spent, were raked out and piled to the sides, building up over time into the horseshoe-shaped mound that survives today. The burnt, shattered material that accumulates gives these sites their distinctively dark, crumbly profile. The northwest-facing openings here would have framed a trough of some kind, though whether it was used for cooking meat, processing hides, bathing, or some combination of purposes remains debated among archaeologists. What is not in doubt is the concentration of activity at this particular spot: a second fulacht fiadh lies approximately forty metres to the west, suggesting the area saw repeated or sustained use over time.