The mound measures roughly 22 metres north to south and 16 metres east to west, which makes it a substantial example of its type, though it sits in the landscape without fanfare. A stream has cut into its south-eastern side, partially obscuring a circular enclosure that lies to the north-west, so the full extent of the site is difficult to read from the surface alone.

A fulacht fia, the term used for these ancient cooking or processing sites, typically consists of a horseshoe-shaped or irregular mound of fire-cracked stone accumulated beside a trough or water source. The standard interpretation is that stones were heated in a fire and then dropped into a water-filled pit to bring it to the boil, though some researchers have proposed uses ranging from textile preparation to brewing. They are extraordinarily common across Ireland, numbering in the thousands, and most date to the Bronze Age. The Killavoy example was recorded by Bowman in 1934, placing it in the literature at a time when systematic field archaeology in Cork was still in relatively early stages. What makes the location quietly unusual is the layering of different periods and purposes in a small area: a prehistoric cooking mound, a burial ground, and a holy well all occupying the same tight stretch of ground, each from a different chapter of human activity on this patch of north Cork.