Kiln — corn-drying in Ballinvinny North

This corn-drying kiln was discovered along the route of the N8 Glanmire-Watergrasshill Bypass and was subsequently excavated in 2001. The kiln, which is a keyhole-shaped example, comprised the surviving base of a bowl (1m x 0.8m; D 0.5m), a flue (max. Wth 0.7m) to the S and a hearth. The bowl and the flue were cut into the upslope. The flue was probably stone-lined originally and, as a consequence, may have been slightly narrower. There was evidence to suggest that the hearth area, located 3m to the S of the bowl, was originally stone-lined also. The flue extended 2m beyond the hearth to the S and, according to the excavator (Cotter 2003b, 27), this may have functioned as a trench from which ashes were raked from the hearth. A semicircular stone setting, located 0.2m S of the flue, may have been the foundations of a stone-lined ash-pit. The S half of the flue and the hearth area retained their original fills, with evidence of intense burning and considerable amounts of charcoal, while the fill of the bowl and the N half of the flue had been extensively disturbed. Charcoal from the flue of the kiln yielded radiocarbon dates of between cal. AD 895-925 and cal. AD 935-1033 (NRA). There is a levelled rath (CO064-009----) c. 200m to the NW in the same townland and a recently discovered medieval moated site (CO064-156001-) lies c. 450m to the NW in the neighbouring Ballinvinny South townland. (Cotter 2003b, 27) The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). Date of upload: 22 December 2009