It is a fulacht fia, a type of prehistoric cooking site found in their thousands across Ireland, typically identified by the characteristic horseshoe-shaped mounds of fire-cracked stone left behind when heated rocks were repeatedly plunged into water-filled troughs to bring them to the boil. This one rises only about forty-five centimetres above the surrounding ground, modest even by the standards of the type, and the vegetation has largely reclaimed it.

What makes the spot quietly interesting is its context within the immediate landscape. A second fulacht fia lies approximately a hundred and ten metres to the north-west, suggesting that this low-lying, waterlogged corner of north Cork saw repeated or sustained prehistoric activity rather than a single isolated episode of use. The proximity to a holy well adds another layer, though the relationship between the prehistoric cooking sites and the well is almost certainly coincidental rather than connected; holy wells in Ireland tend to accumulate significance across many centuries and many different kinds of use. The marshy ground that surrounds the mound would have made it practical for its original purpose, since fulachtaí fia are almost always found near reliable sources of water, the essential ingredient in the process.