This is a fulacht fia, a type of prehistoric cooking or processing site found widely across Ireland, typically consisting of a trough dug into the ground near a water source, a hearth for heating stones, and the accumulated mound of those same stones, cracked and blackened from repeated use and discarded after each heating. The kidney shape, with its opening facing west, is characteristic of the type, and the mound here measures 22.3 metres north to south and 10.1 metres east to west, rising to a modest height of 0.7 metres.

Fullacht fia sites, sometimes called burnt mounds, are among the most common archaeological monument types in Ireland, yet they remain poorly understood in terms of their precise function. Heating water by dropping fire-cracked stones into a trough is the most widely accepted explanation, with cooking, bathing, or textile processing all proposed as possible uses. This particular example near Mountcollins was recorded in marshy ground roughly 80 metres from the western bank of the Feale, the kind of waterlogged, low-lying position typical of the type, where proximity to a reliable water source would have been essential. A second fulacht fia lies just 40 metres to the south, suggesting that this bend of the river was a location people returned to repeatedly, or used simultaneously for related activities. The site was compiled by Denis Power and uploaded to the archaeological record in August 2011.

The site sits in working farmland, so access depends on the goodwill of the landowner and an awareness that the ground underfoot is genuinely marshy. The mound itself is not a dramatic presence; at under a metre high, it blends into the surrounding pasture and requires a certain amount of patience and attention to locate. What makes the visit worthwhile is the pairing with the second mound to the south, which gives a sense of how these sites clustered near water rather than appearing in isolation. The River Feale runs nearby throughout the year, and the boggy conditions that helped preserve the site are most apparent in wetter months, which also makes the ground harder to cross. Ordnance Survey maps and the National Monuments Service online record are the most reliable guides to the exact location.