Kiln - lime, Annaghily More, Co. Kerry

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Kilns

Kiln – lime, Annaghily More, Co. Kerry

On a south-facing slope in Annaghily More, a substantial lime kiln sits in open pasture alongside a second kiln immediately to its west, the two structures forming a small industrial pair that most walkers would pass without a second glance.

Lime kilns were the workhorses of pre-modern agriculture: limestone was loaded in at the top, fired with fuel, and the resulting quicklime drawn out at the base through an opening called an ope, then spread on fields to reduce soil acidity. That this one stands over three metres high, with a rubble front wall measuring 5.4 metres wide, suggests it was built to handle a meaningful volume of work rather than serve a single farmstead.

The kiln's front wall faces south and extends slightly beyond the face of the adjoining structure to the west. A central recess, framed by a lintel and measuring roughly 1.6 metres high by 1.4 metres wide and nearly 1.8 metres deep, is fitted with sloping slabs at the rear, a design detail that helped channel the drawn lime downward and outward. Two horizontal ledges run across the front face, set at roughly 1.9 metres and 2.8 metres above ground level, likely used during loading or maintenance. The 1846 Ordnance Survey six-inch map records only a single kiln on this site, which raises the possibility that the second structure, abutting immediately to the west, was added at some point after that survey was made, though the record does not confirm this directly.

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Pete F
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