It is grass-covered now, worn down by generations of grazing cattle, but beneath the surface it is composed of burnt material, the characteristic signature of a fulacht fia. These are among the most common prehistoric monuments in Ireland, typically interpreted as outdoor cooking sites, though their exact function has been debated: the working theory is that stones were heated in a fire, dropped into a water-filled trough to bring it to the boil, and used to cook meat or process other materials. The mound is what remains when that process has been repeated many times over, a slow accumulation of fire-cracked and discarded stone.

The site measures nine metres in length, eight metres in width, and survives to a height of around 0.75 metres, modest dimensions but consistent with examples found across the country. What makes its setting notable is the proximity to the ringfort, a type of enclosed farmstead that was the standard unit of rural settlement in early medieval Ireland, broadly the period from around the fifth to the twelfth century. The fulacht fia predates ringforts in many cases, with most examples assigned to the Bronze Age, so whether this particular mound was in use at the same time as the enclosure beside it, or simply happened to occupy the same landscape at different points in time, is not clear. Two further fulachta fiadh lie to the east and southeast, which suggests this corner of Cork was a well-used stretch of ground across a long span of prehistory.