Kiln - lime, Knockacullig, Co. Kerry

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Kilns

Kiln – lime, Knockacullig, Co. Kerry

On the northern bank of the Gweestin Stream in Knockacullig, a four-metre wall of ivy-covered stone rises from a steep south-facing slope, the remains of a limekiln that once played a quiet but essential role in the agricultural life of rural Kerry.

It is easy to mistake such structures for old field walls or forgotten outbuildings, but limekilns were working industrial features, designed to burn limestone at high temperatures and produce quicklime for spreading on acidic soils, mortaring walls, or whitewashing farmhouses. This one is built directly into the hillside, using the slope itself as part of its structure, a common approach that allowed the kiln to be loaded with fuel and stone from above while the burned lime was drawn out from an arched opening below.

The kiln dates from the mid to late nineteenth century, a period when lime burning was widespread across Ireland as farmers worked to improve land productivity. The front wall, facing south-south-west, measures three metres wide and four metres high, and at its centre sits a well-proportioned arched recess, roughly two metres tall and nearly as wide, with a depth of about one and a half metres. This opening, called the draw arch, was where workers would rake out the processed lime once a burn was complete. The funnel at the top, through which the raw limestone and fuel would have been loaded, is now infilled, closing off the upper part of the structure and leaving the kiln as a sealed, largely intact shell rather than a working or fully open one.

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