LIME KILN

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single-pot rubble masonry lime kiln of later 19th or earlier 20th C date.
This kiln is located on the NW side of a single-lane road leading to Murlough Bay. It is cut into the slope with its frontage facing SE.
The kiln is of square plan and built of random rubble basalt with an admixture of limestone rubble on its frontage. Its draw hole is at the base of its facade and comprises a keystoned segmental arch which gives into a splayed reveal containing three arches of diminishing size, the smallest of which is over the actual hole. All the arches have roughly dressed basalt voussoirs. The hole is now partially buried under an accumulation of sediment. On either side of the front arch is a small rectangular damper hole which controlled the rate of burning in the pot. A narrow string course runs across the face of the facade just above the crown of the outer arch and above which is a semicircular blind arch. The latter may have been be for decorative purposes rather than a relieving arch as the drawhole ope beneath it is arched rather than flat headed.
The top of the kiln is flat and has a single circular stone-lined pot to centre. The stonework around the pot is consolidated in places with cement. The pot tapers in slightly towards its bottom end but the draw hole is not visible due to sedimentation.

Setting:
The kiln is situated on exposed treeless moorland high above Murlough Bay. Approximately 40m to its NE is a limestone outcrop with a small quarry working whence the stone was drawn. The slope directly behind the kiln has been built up level to facilitate the filling of the pot. The single-lane road in front of it would have been used to take the lime to its points of use.

Historical information

A lime kiln is marked hereabouts on the 1832 OS map along with a small quarry behind it. The 1855 edition shows only the quarry however. A disused lime kiln is shown on the 1904 map, and 'L.K.' on the 1922 edition; the quarry is shown on both maps. It would thus appear to have been back in operation shortly after the First World War. However, it was disused again on the 1971 map.
The cartographic evidence suggests one of two possible developmental sequences for the kiln as it now stands: (1) It was constructed in the later 19th C as a replacement of the early 19th C one, then became disused but was back in use in the 1920s, or (2) It was erected between 1904 and 1922 as a replacement of the disused one shown on the 1904 map.

References - Primary Sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/1/5/1. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 5 (1832).
2. PRONI OS/6/1/5/2. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 5 (1855).
3. PRONI OS/10/1/5/15/1. OS 1:2500 map, Co Antrim sheet 5-15 (1904).
4. PRONI OS/10/1/5/15/2. OS 1:2500 map, Co Antrim sheet 5-15 (1922).
5. PRONI OS/11/9/7/1. OS 1:2500 map, Irish Grid sheet 9-07 (1971).

References - Secondary Sources:
1. F.W. Hamond, Antrim Coast & Glens Industrial Heritage, p.76 (Belfast: HMSO, 1991).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A single-pot rubble basalt lime kiln of later 19th or earlier 20th C date, on the NW side of Murlough Road, Ballycastle. It has group value with another nearby kiln (HB05.04.013), located NE, and is situated within a scheduled zone (ANT 005:034).
This structure is typical of the style, size and construction of many small rural lime kilns. The fabric of the kiln is original and intact, with an unusual blind arch feature above the drawhole arch. The kiln's close proximity to the quarry which supplied it also enhances its interest and explains why it was erected at that particular location.
Prior to the advent of cement and artificial fertilisers, it would have been of considerable economic value to the local community in producing burnt lime for use as fertilizer, building mortar and whitewash. It is also of local interest as a prominent roadside landmark on this desolate moorland within Antrim Coast and Glens ANOB.

General comments

Date of Construction could equally be 1860-1879 or 1900-1919.