Kiln

The National Monuments Service's description

In 2003, 'Site No. 3' at Kill Hill (designated KD020-022001-) was identified on a north-west-facing slope, north of Kill Hill during archaeological centre-line testing (Licence No. 03E1265: www.excavations.ie) for the N7 Naas Road Widening and Interchanges Scheme and was fully excavated (Licence No. 03E1571: www.excavations.ie). The site was identified as a ribbon of burnt clay encircling an oval of redeposited natural subsoil with infrequent charcoal flecking. Excavation revealed that this was a shallow pit (0.2m deep by c. 1m long), roughly figure-of-eight in shape and oriented NW-SE. It was cut into natural subsoil. The more north-westerly of the ovals of the figure-of-eight was the larger, and it also had the more consistent concave base. The primary fill was a layer of red burnt clay 50-60mm thick. This deposit lined the cut on both base and sides, so that it appeared in pre-excavation plan as a ribbon encircling the redeposited natural. The south-eastern oval had a depression at the base of the cut to the south-easternmost part of the feature. The depression was c. 0.35 in diameter and 0.15m in depth, and might have been the repository of a set of bellows. On preliminary analysis, the feature appears to be a form of kiln, of uncertain date.

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy

Date of upload: 10 June 2011