Not shown. — Skehacreggaun

A corn drying kiln identified by Jacinta Kiely during archaeological monitoring prior to the construction of a housing development carried out under Licence No. 04E0414 (Kiely 2005). The site was excavated under an extension to the licence in 2005. A circular pit (LI013-226----) c. 25m to the SW and a holy well (LI013-009006-) c. 255m to the S were also excavated. The corn-drying kiln was located ‘at the eastern side of field 2 and is bounded by the R512 on the east’ (Kiely 2005). The results of the excavation are described as following; ‘The kiln construction was represented by two conjoined cuts, a drying chamber and flue, respectively. The drying chamber was sub­rectangular, 2.22m by 1.46m by 0.37m, and orientated east–west. The sides were steep to vertical and broke gradually to a flat but irregular base. The remaining depth of the cut, after modern truncation, was 0.37m. Five fills were recorded in the cut. Seven stake-holes were positioned at the internal corners of the drying chamber and were found underneath a charcoal/ash layer. The stakes would presumably have supported a rack on which cereal grains, etc., could have been dried. They may also have supported outer walls or coverings. The flue consisted of a linear cut, 3.57m long, which extended south from the drying chamber. It was severely truncated by ploughing and only a depth of 0.12m remained in places. Where best preserved, the flue was 0.61m deep and 0.32m wide. There was no evidence of the flue lining and the base was concave. As the flue ran north the base rose sharply, c. 0.4m, from the drying chamber. This can only have acted as a baffle to prevent the continuation of sparks into the chamber. There was no evidence of in situ burning or a firing area within the flue. The absence of a definable hearth area within the flue and the location of the stake-holes within the drying chamber would all appear to suggest a trial or prototype kiln. The kiln may not have been effective at this location, or perhaps the flue was aligned erroneously, thus leading to the change in position of the flue. The absence of a firing area would seem to support this hypothesis. The kiln is likely to date to the medieval period, on grounds of morphology, and radiocarbon dates are forthcoming. Two cuts were made prior to the construction of the kiln. The first of these was subrectangular in plan with rounded corners and measured 3.38m by 0.62m by 0.36m. It had five fills, four of which had charcoal inclusions. An animal tooth was recovered from one of the fills. It is possible that the upper fills of the cut relate to the later construction of the kiln flue, whether they served to stabilise the ground here or were directly upcast from the cut. There was no evidence to suggest that this pit had remained open for any significant period of time or that it had served any clear function before being backfilled. The second pit cut was similar and was truncated by the drying chamber cut at its southern end. While irregular in plan, a general north–south orientation was discernible and it measured 1.2m by 0.76m by 0.18m. The single fill of this cut contained charcoal flecks and fragments of animal bone. The relationship between this cut and that of the drying chamber was not altogether clear and so could be interpreted in two ways: that the drying chamber is later and cut through this pit or that both cuts are contemporaneous but this pit was backfilled and disused.’ (www.excavations.ie 2005:1017, Kiely 2005). Compiled by: Fiona Rooney Date of upload: 30 June 2020