Beneath the surface lay the physical remains of a small smithing operation, largely invisible from above and entirely unexpected in its age.

Archaeological monitoring and excavation carried out by D. Shine in 2007 and 2008 uncovered three bowl furnaces cut into the subsoil to the south of what appears to have been a settled plot area associated with Rathmolyon church. Bowl furnaces are small, roughly circular pits used for smelting or smithing metal, and these examples were modest in scale, ranging from about 0.38 to 0.4 metres across and 0.12 to 0.14 metres deep. Close by was a feature interpreted as a quenching gully, a channel into which hot metal would have been plunged to cool and harden it, measuring roughly 1.6 metres by 1.1 metres. A single post-hole was also recorded nearby. Radiocarbon dating of one furnace returned a calibrated date of 770 to 900 AD, placing it firmly in the early medieval period, sometimes called the Golden Age of Irish monasticism, when small-scale metalworking was commonly associated with ecclesiastical and agricultural settlements. The remaining features, however, are considered to be late medieval in date, suggesting that the area may have seen metalworking activity across several centuries, though not necessarily continuously. A separate phase of testing carried out in 2021 by A. O'Connell just to the south-west found no related archaeological material.