County: Galway Site name: PORTUMNA SEWERAGE SCHEME, Portumna
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0386
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Kiln - lime
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 583795m, N 702993m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.077302, -8.241847
Monitoring of the outfall lines for the Portumna Sewerage Scheme in 1998 uncovered the remains of a partially destroyed brick kiln in the woods to the south-west of Portumna Castle and within what would have been the 17th-century demesne.
The kiln measured 8.5m east-west and 6m north- south but continued beyond the east baulk so that its full extent is not known. It consisted of rows of bricks placed 0.4m apart, which formed channels or flues through which the heat could travel in order to circulate around the bricks so that they would be properly fired. Only the bottom two courses, and in places only the bottom course, of bricks survived, with the feature having been very badly disturbed by the trees that had been planted on top of it during the last 200 years.
Although no substantial dating evidence was retrieved from the feature, the bricks themselves are consistent with the 17th-century bricks found in Portumna Castle itself. It is highly likely therefore that the brick kiln was constructed for use at the nearby castle.
15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
