Limekiln, Lledwigan

Cadw's description

Location

Prominently sited within a field forming part of the Lledwigan farmland; set back from the NE side of the A5(T), c400m E of the church of St Cristiolus.

History

Early to mid C19 limekiln. The limekiln at Lledwigan formed part of the Bulkeley estate and probably made use of local coal from small coal pits at Berw, and more likely Malltraeth marsh; part of which was owned by Viscount Bulkeley, and which became more productive after the cob was built and the marsh drained in the early C19. Lime had been used 'by more advanced farmers' since the C17, but it was only with the cheapening of fuel and transportation that it became general for farmers to have their own kilns, or for private 'adventurers' to build them alongside main roads or canal banks; by 1831, 52 were recorded on Anglesey. Towards the end of the C18 a heavy duty was imposed on coal, Anglesey secured an early exemption for copper smelting but there were complaints from local pits which suffered restrictions on exports; it may have been more profitably then for local pit owners to have coal used in nearby limekilns than sold elsewhere.

Exterior

Early to mid C19 limekiln with battered walls of coursed, roughly-dressed local stone. Set into a rising hillside to the rear (NW), the front (SE) wall has a pair of elliptically-arched draw hole vaults; that to the left with extrados dripcourse, the opening partially bricked in with central doorway, that to the right with intrados and extrados dripcourses, the opening partially filled in (with rendered brickwork?) and doorway offset to the left.

Reason for designation

Listed as a good and well-preserved example of a lime-kiln - a relatively large-scale example of the rural type.