Kiln — corn-drying in Alexander Reid

Eleven kilns of all forms have been recorded in a NE-SW band across the excavation, and these date largely to the two later phases of the monument’s development. Three truncated kilns were close to the centre of the rath but like all the kilns they probably relate to Phase 3 and Phase 4 when the rath was incorporated into a large rectangular enclosure or field (ME025-096003-). One kiln was rock-cut and may have been keyhole-shaped with the firing chamber at SW. Another keyhole-shaped kiln had the drying chamber at NW and was cut by a later burial. A figure-of-eight kiln had the firing chamber at N. Only the last firings remained in the kilns. (McGlade 2017, vol. 1, 32-3) Two kilns were amongst features within the E annexe (ME025-096001-). One kiln was cut by the rath fosse at NE and had its flue within the rath. A cow’s skull had been placed at this end of the flue. Of the other kiln only the W firing chamber survived, the rest being destroyed by a drain associated with the modern avenue. A third kiln of figure-of-eight form (dims 2.22m x 0.95-1.25m; D 0.28m) was just outside the N run of the E annexe ditch. Its parts were clay-lined and the firing chamber at N had intake flues at E and W with the drying chamber at S. (McGlade 2017, vol. 1, 34-6, 95) A keyhole kiln cut the upper fill of the inner curvilinear ditch inside the inner W enclosure (ME025-096002-) and it had an animal skull in its final fill. An arc of a slot-trench at the S of the annexe is probably a necessary wind-break (McGlade 2017, vol. 1, 42-3). Four kilns are within the area of the outer W annexe. An isolated feature was deeply truncated but appears to have been a figure-of-eight form. One keyhole-shaped kiln cut the fill of both an internal E-W gully within the smaller, earlier W annexe and the fill of the defining ditch of the large rectangular enclosure (ME025-096003-). A third kiln was built in the fill of the E boundary of the earlier W annexe and was cut by the S line of the rectangular enclosure. The last kiln was cut into the fill of the earliest phase of the inner W annexe ditch and it is possible that a C-shaped structure within the enclosure might have served it as a wind-break although it does not enclose it. (McGlade 2017, 48-51; 91-6) See the attached site plan showing the distribution from McGlade (2017 vol. 1, P 92) _01 distribution Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 19 April, 2023