Fulachtaí fia (the singular is fulacht fia) are among the most common prehistoric monuments in Ireland, typically appearing as low, horseshoe-shaped mounds of fire-cracked stone and charred material beside a water source. The theory most widely accepted by archaeologists is that they functioned as outdoor cooking places, where stones were heated in a fire and dropped into a water-filled trough to bring it to boiling point. The Ballyclogh example sat undisturbed beneath its turf until drainage works prompted an excavation in 1982 and 1983.

When the turf was lifted, the spread of burnt material measured roughly 8.5 metres by 8.5 metres, though only the south-east quadrant was fully excavated. At the eastern end of the mound, investigators found the main feature: a rectangular pit, approximately 1.5 metres by 2 metres, cut down into the subsoil. Fragments of timber were still embedded in the walls of the pit, though no floor timbers had survived. At the north-western end, a series of stake-holes suggested the former presence of wooden racks, possibly used for hanging meat. A radiocarbon date obtained from the surviving side timbers placed the wood's felling at around 2705 years before present, give or take 70 years, placing the site firmly in the later Bronze Age. That the monument belongs to a group of ten fulachtaí fiadh in the same locality makes Ballyclogh something of an unusual concentration, raising questions about the intensity of activity, or perhaps repeated seasonal use, in this particular stretch of North Cork.