County: Antrim Site name: BALLYCASTLE U.D.
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Mr. G. Bowie, Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University, Belfast
Site type: Glass works
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 711928m, N 940982m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 55.203378, -6.241649
The kiln site was surveyed in the Summer of 1973 when almost half of it had been destroyed by water erosion. A sudden increase in erosion locally threatened the remainder and necessitated its excavation. The main kiln wall, 1.1m thick, was first located; it had an internal diameter of 18 metres, and would have supported a brick cone structure c. 27m high. A lean-to annealing house adjoined the wall beside an arched entry leading to the oven. The main flue was exposed in the eroding cliff-face and its fill emptied, when its cinder floor was uncovered, but the main working floor had been heavily disturbed by defensive works dug in 1939-1945. The entrance arch of the flue was also disturbed and robbed; the entrance was built, rather riskily, immediately below the arched entry to the working area. The firegate and ash pans were next uncovered, and the main circular wall completely exposed where it survived. A curious brick-lined rubble-built structure which bonded with the main fabric has been suggested by Professors Evans and Greene to be the base of a fixed crane. Finally a small oven of uncertain function was exposed. Artefacts included many fragments of the kiln’s products- bottles of 5 types, crown window glass, and a fine flagon.
