County: Wexford Site name: HARRISTOWN LITTLE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0417
Author: Michael Tierney, Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: Kiln - corn-drying
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 692430m, N 623050m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.351243, -6.643230
This site was excavated as part of a programme of monitoring and testing for Wexford County Council (see Excavations 2000, No. 1068 for scope of works). It was found during the pre-construction test-trenching phase.
The site was at the base of a steep hill that overlooks the undulating plain around Wexford town. A corn-drying kiln was found in the initial test-trench along the length of the road-take. The kiln’s flue had been truncated by recent farming activity. The feature was surrounded on one side by a relatively shallow ditch, which may have worked to stop run-off from the hill interfering with the drying process. The bowl was oval, 3.7m north–south, 2.7m wide, with a depth of 0.52m. The sides were smooth and slightly concave, coming to the flat base with a sharp break of slope.
A two-course drystone wall lined the base of the bowl. The stone showed signs of being exposed to high temperatures, as did the natural, silty clay subsoil, which was also intensively scorched all around. This may have been caused by a mixture of burning the subsoil to seal the drying-pit and subsequent accidental burnings. Further analysis of the soil, and possible archaeobotanical remains, may help clarify this point. The wall probably supported a frame of some kind that would have held the grain. There was little or no evidence of collapse to suggest that it was higher, which rules out the possibility that it worked as a revetment.
The flue was cut away by the excavation of a large modern pit, of unknown function. The entrance to the flue was intact, and there were a number of large stones in situ, which suggest that the flue may have had quite a substantial stone lining to facilitate the free flow of hot air.
A preliminary proposed date for its primary use, based on morphological grounds, is 13th or 14th century, but this remains tentative. The fact that two similar kilns (see Excavations 2000, No. 1068) were found along the route has encouraged post-excavation analysis towards a landscape focus, to determine if these features can be integrated into the other traces of medieval activity uncovered. The existence of corn-drying kilns away from obvious settlement centres refocuses attention into the broader landscape, in which so much of the medieval day would have been spent.
Riveroaks, Riverstown, Birr, Co. Offaly
