County: Kildare Site name: KILMACREDOCK UPPER
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0306
Author: Fiona Reilly, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Furnace
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 697624m, N 735369m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.359509, -6.533378
This was Site 5 of the Celbridge Interchange and was excavated under the monitoring licence. It measured approximately 8m by 11m. Three bowl furnaces and two associated burnt deposits were found. The area was truncated by one of the boundary ditches dividing the deerpark of Castletown and separating Castletown townland from Kilmacredock Upper.
Furnace 1 consisted of twelve contexts. It was 0.44m north of the townland boundary that truncated the site. The bowl of the furnace cut through the natural subsoil. It was flat-bottomed and circular with almost vertical sides, 0.47m wide on the surface and 0.39m at its base. It was 0.25m deep. The fills were rich in charcoal and slag. There was evidence that the bowl may have been recut. A 20mm-wide stream of metal was found to have flowed from the base of the furnace on the south-western side for 0.42m.
Furnaces 2 and 3 were 9.5m to the south-west of Furnace 1. Furnace 2 joined Furnace 3 on its north-western side; both cut the natural subsoil. Eight contexts were associated with Furnace 2. The bowl was 0.39m in diameter with almost vertical sides and a concave base. Its fills were also rich in charcoal and slag. A possible plume was found in the third fill of the furnace.
Nine contexts were associated with Furnace 3. The bowl was 0.4m in diameter on the surface and 0.32m at its base. It was 0.22–0.26m in depth. Its fills were rich in charcoal and slag. The third fill out of four was made up of packed burnt clay which might have been part of the furnace’s superstructure.
Three features were associated with the furnaces: a stake-hole, an area of burnt material and a shallow cut with burnt material, C37.
No completed artefacts or metalworking tools were found on site. More research will have to be carried out to determine whether the furnaces were for smithing or smelting. It might be suggested that they were for smelting since there was a possible plume in Furnace 2 and no crucibles or moulds were found. The pit C37 may have been used for roasting ore prior to smelting. Since there were three furnaces, both smithing and smelting may have been carried out on site. A date has not yet been obtained for the site but it might have been part of an industrial complex including the corn-drying kiln (see Excavations 2001, No. 652) to the east and a possible area of milling to the south (see Excavations 2001, No. 609, part of Site 4).
Wood Road, Cratloekeel, Cratloe, Co. Clare
