It measures eighteen metres across in both directions and is composed largely of burnt material, the characteristic signature of a fulacht fia, one of the most common yet least understood monument types in the Irish archaeological landscape.

A fulacht fia is, in essence, the remains of an ancient cooking or heating site, typically Bronze Age in date, consisting of a horseshoe-shaped mound of fire-cracked stones that accumulated over repeated use. The usual method involved heating stones in a fire and dropping them into a water-filled trough to bring the water to a boil, the shattered and blackened stones then being raked aside to form the mound that survives. What makes the Ballycunningham example quietly interesting is not just its own presence but the fact that it sits roughly forty metres south-southwest of a second fulacht fia. Two such monuments in close proximity is not unheard of, but it raises questions that archaeology has not yet fully settled, about whether paired or clustered sites reflect repeated seasonal use of a favoured water source, distinct social groups returning to the same landscape, or simply the longevity of a tradition that kept drawing people back to the same patch of ground across generations.