kiln

Freestanding two-bay lime kiln, erected c. 1860. Now out of use or in use as outbuilding with modern addition to the front (west). Constructed of roughly coursed rubble stone masonry with roughly square-quoins to the corners. Segmental-headed openings to front (south) having red brick voussoirs and lining to former oven apertures intrados. Slightly raised rubble stone parapet to front. Built into sloping ground with former quarries adjacent to the east (now flooded). Earthen embankment to rear and south, formerly giving access to loading chambers to top. Set back from road in rural location to the east of Manorcunningham. Single-storey lean-to shed to west with corrugated-metal roof and blockwork walls.

This interesting double lime kiln, originally erected during the second half of the nineteenth century, survives in good condition and retains its early character. Its form consisting of two adjoining lime kilns, and it is unusually substantial and well-built for its type. It is well-built using local rubble stone masonry and is an appealing and unassuming element of the agricultural/industrial and social heritage of County Donegal. The brick lining to the over apertures is and interesting feature that indicates its relatively late date. The embankment to the rear was built/modified to allow for the easy loading of stone through openings in the roof structure, while the apertures to the front were used to fire the oven to burn the stone and produce lime. It is located adjacent to a former quarry to the east, a logical site for such a feature due to ease of transport of the raw material, limestone. Lime kilns appear to have come into popular use in Ireland during the eighteenth century and were a very common feature in the rural landscape up until the first decades of the twentieth century. They were used to burn limestone to produce lime, which was used as an agricultural fertilizer and spread on agricultural land, or in construction as a mortar and a render. Lime was also used for lime-washing buildings, particularly farm buildings, as it was regarded as a cleansing agent at the time. This double kiln is more substantial than is more commonly encountered, which suggests a small-scale industrial process at the time as opposed to a kiln erected for use by a local farmer. Small rural lime kilns started to go out of common usage during the late nineteenth-century with the advent of industrial-scale lime production facilities and improvements in the transport network, particularly the development of the railways. This simple feature is an interesting feature in the rural landscape to the east of Manorcunningham, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area.