It measures 26 metres long, 11 metres wide, and rises to 1.2 metres in height, with a westward-facing opening 5 metres across. To an untrained eye it might read as a natural rise in the ground, but its distinctive shape and composition mark it out as a fulacht fia, one of the most common prehistoric monument types in Ireland.

A fulacht fia, sometimes called a burnt mound, is thought to represent a Bronze Age cooking site, though the precise function of individual examples has long been debated. The basic process involved heating stones in a fire and dropping them into a water-filled trough to bring the water to a boil. The stones, fractured by repeated heating and cooling, were then discarded nearby, gradually accumulating into the characteristic mound. Thousands of these sites are known across Ireland, clustering especially in low-lying, waterlogged ground close to streams, which is precisely the setting here. The south side of a stream was a typical location, offering convenient access to running water. The horseshoe or crescent shape, open at one end, is the classic form, and this example conforms to it closely.