Kiln

New monument uncovered during excavation by Eamonn Cotter under licence number 03E0461 in advance of the M7 Heath-Mayfield motorway scheme. Four corn-drying kilns were found to the E of the barrow and the burials, on the E slope of the hill. They were sited 16m apart along a NW-SE line, following the contour of the hill, and each individual kiln lay on the same alignment (i.e at right angles to the slope). All had a figure of eight ground plan and esentially consisted of two circular pits, one deeper than the other, the deeper one containing the hearth. In length the kilns ranged from 2.2m to 2.6m, while the deepest sections were c. 0.8m deep and the shallower sections c. 0.3m. The upper fill of one of the kilns produced quantities of iron slag and seems to have been reused as a bowl furnace (Bennett 2006, 293-4). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 17 December 2007