These structures, which were used to burn limestone at high temperatures to produce quicklime, once formed a practical backbone of Irish agriculture and construction. The resulting lime was spread on acidic soils to improve fertility, mixed into mortar, or used to whitewash buildings. The fact that so many survive, in varying states of decay, speaks to how fundamental the process once was, even if the kilns themselves rarely attract much attention today.

Lime kilns of this kind were built and used across Ireland from at least the seventeenth century onwards, with many seeing continuous use into the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They typically took the form of a stone-built bowl or draw kiln set into a hillside or bank, allowing limestone and fuel, usually turf or coal, to be loaded from above and the burnt lime to be raked out from a lower arch at the front. The particular history of the Buffy kiln, including who built it, when it was in use, and what local agricultural or building economy it served, is not currently documented in available public records.