The development plans called for 75 new homes along with treatment works and landscaping across the 37,050 square metre site. However, before any construction could begin, archaeological testing was required to ensure no significant heritage would be destroyed. Nelis excavated twelve test trenches throughout the area, sampling approximately 5% of the total site with 1,854 square metres of trenching.

What emerged from the north-eastern corner of the site were four spreads of burnt stone, likely dating to the Bronze Age. These features represent the ploughed-out remains of what archaeologists call fulacht fiadh, or burnt mounds; ancient cooking sites where our ancestors heated stones in fires before dropping them into water-filled troughs to boil food. Though no troughs were discovered during this excavation, the burnt stone spreads tell their own story. The first spread stretched over 9.1 metres from north to south with a maximum width of 6 metres, whilst the second measured 6.6 metres in length and 2.3 metres wide, possibly extending another metre or two beyond the excavated area.

These burnt spreads appear to be contemporaneous and directly associated with one another, suggesting this corner of Kilmackilvenny was once a hub of Bronze Age activity, perhaps a communal cooking area used repeatedly over generations. The absence of any other archaeological features or artefacts in the remaining trenches indicates that this specific location held particular significance for the people who used it roughly 3,000 years ago. Today, these subtle traces in the soil serve as reminders that even the most ordinary-looking fields in Donegal can harbour extraordinary glimpses into Ireland’s prehistoric past.