Kiln, Richmond, Co. Tipperary
Co. Tipperary |
Kilns
At Richmond in County Tipperary, a patch of ground gave up the remains of a kiln that had been disturbed long before anyone thought to investigate it properly.
What was recovered amounted to two spreads of charcoal, each associated with a stone setting that may once have served as a flue wall, the channel through which heat and gases were directed in a working kiln. The remains were fragmentary, but the charcoal itself was informative enough to place the structure within a specific window of time.
In 2000, archaeologist Donald Murphy excavated the site under licence, and radiocarbon dating of the charcoal layer returned a date range of AD 1486 to 1644. That span covers a period of considerable upheaval in Tipperary, from the late medieval lordships through the Tudor plantations and into the early seventeenth century. The kiln's precise function is not recorded, but kilns of this period in Ireland were commonly used for drying grain, burning lime for agricultural or building purposes, or firing ceramic materials. The disturbed condition of the remains means the original form cannot be fully reconstructed, but the stone settings suggest at least some deliberate structural organisation.


