It is the kind of structure that gets passed without a second glance, yet it represents a technology that once underpinned Irish agriculture at almost every scale, from the great estates down to small tenant farms.

A lime kiln is essentially a furnace for converting raw limestone into quicklime by burning it at high temperatures, the resulting material being spread on fields to reduce soil acidity or used as a binding agent in mortar. This example at Waterhouse is built in the practical vernacular style typical of North Cork: random-rubble limestone walls encasing a central core, the whole thing leaning into the rock face behind it as if drawing stability from the geology that also supplied its raw material. The east-facing front elevation carries a brick-arched recess, roughly two and a half metres high and two metres wide, with a second lower inner arch behind it that contains the stoking hole, the opening through which fuel was fed to keep the fire burning. Sloping slabs at the rear would have directed the flow of material downward through the kiln. The funnel at the top, through which limestone was loaded, has been infilled, closing off the structure from above.