Kiln - lime, Mondaniel, Co. Cork
Co. Cork |
Kilns
A limekiln is not the sort of structure that usually stops a road project in its tracks, but at Mondaniel in County Cork, construction of the N8 Rathcormac-Fermoy Bypass did just that.
Archaeologists excavating the route in 2003 uncovered not one but two kilns sitting roughly three metres apart, their relationship to each other unresolved and their ages unknown. What they left behind was enough to piece together, in some detail, how one small-scale industrial process once worked in this corner of Cork.
The kiln that received closer attention had an unusual double keyhole shape, orientated north to south, with a central bowl or pit and openings on either side. Limekilns of this type were used to burn limestone at high temperatures, producing quicklime for use in agriculture and building. The stone-lined, funnel-shaped bowl narrowed towards its base, and the flue, the channel through which air was drawn to feed the fire, ran underneath the pit before widening into stone-lined channels on either side of the structure. A large lintel to the north served a dual purpose, supporting the outward batter of the structure and forming the roof of the flue entrance. The floor along the length of the kiln was laid with flagstones, worn smooth and stained with hard, trampled lime, suggesting repeated use. To the north, a large pit measuring four metres across has been interpreted as a raking-out pit, where spent material was cleared from beneath the bowl once a burn was complete. Excavator Quinn noted in 2006 that the scale of the structure suggested only modest quantities of lime were ever produced here. No artefacts were recovered that might date the kiln, and there was no stratigraphic evidence to indicate whether the two kilns operated at the same time or in sequence.
