What they found was a corn-drying kiln, a type of small-scale agricultural installation once common across rural Ireland, used to dry harvested grain before milling or storage. In a climate where damp was a persistent problem, drying the grain thoroughly was essential, and these kilns provided a controlled heat source to do it.

The excavation, carried out under licence in 2004, revealed the kiln in some detail. It consisted of a cut fire chamber, with clear evidence of burning surviving on the base and sides of the cut itself, and a flue channel extending 2.2 metres from the chamber. Within the fire chamber, upright stones, stone sockets, and post-holes were found, suggesting that a superstructure had once stood above, most likely a timber platform on which the grain would have been spread to dry in the rising heat. Close by stood a sub-rectangular structure measuring roughly 5.2 metres in length and 3.8 metres in width, defined by a curving cut and post-holes. It had two entrances, a divided interior, a small hearth, and two waste pits. The excavator, reporting in 2007, suggested this building may have served as a barn, a companion facility to the kiln itself. Together, the two features point to a modest but organised agricultural operation on this patch of Wicklow ground, one that would have gone entirely unrecorded had construction not prompted a closer look.