It is a lime kiln, a type of industrial furnace once common across rural Ireland, where limestone was burned at high temperatures to produce quicklime for agricultural use and building mortar. This one is heavily overgrown now, but its bones are still readable: an arched recess at the front, about two metres high and two metres wide, where workers would have drawn out the processed lime, and above it a stone-lined funnel two metres in diameter into which limestone and fuel were loaded from above.

The mechanics of a lime kiln are straightforward enough. Layers of limestone and coal or wood were packed into the funnel, or "pot", and set alight; after a prolonged burn, the calcium carbonate in the stone broke down into calcium oxide, the powdery quicklime that farmers spread on acidic soils to improve fertility. The Maulane kiln has a ramp running up the left side, which would have allowed carts or barrows to reach the top of the structure for loading, and rounded corners on the right, details that suggest a certain care in its construction. At around six metres, it is a reasonably substantial example. These kilns were typically built close to roads for ease of transport, and this one follows that pattern exactly, sitting at the roadside where limestone, fuel, and finished product could all be moved without difficulty.