Kiln — corn-drying in Scartbarry

This isolated kiln was excavated along the route of the N8 Rathcormac-Fermoy Bypass in 2003. This figure-of-eight-shaped kiln consisted of a clay-cut, combined, roughly circular stokehole/flue (diam. 1.4m; D 0.2m) and an adjoining subrectangular drying chamber (1m x 0.8m; D 0.2m) both of which were heavily oxidised at the base, with an overlying charcoal-enriched layer. Charcoal recovered from the carbonised layer in the drying chamber returned a date of cal. AD 410-650. According to the excavator (O'Connell 2006k, 51), barley was the predominant cereal identified in the kiln. A series of excavated features (CO053-104----), one of which was a pit dating to the Bronze Age, was located c. 120m to the S and another concentration of features (CO053-111----) were discovered at the S end of the excavation site. (O'Connell 2006a, 75; 2006k) The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). Date of upload: 22 December 2009