2001:664 - CARTON DEMESNE (Site 3), Maynooth, Kildare

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Kildare Site name: CARTON DEMESNE (Site 3), Maynooth

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0377

Author: E. Eoin Sullivan, on behalf of Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.

Site type: Kiln

Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)

ITM: E 696390m, N 738500m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.387859, -6.550962

The kiln was located along the fairway of Hole 18, at the break of slope close to the present river. It was identified during test-trenching as a pronounced line of intensively burnt clay and a spread of charcoal-rich clay. It was bowl-shaped, with its long axis orientated east–west, and measured 2m east–west by 0.48m. The stratified deposits within the kiln consisted of two thin lenses of charcoal. The upper lens extended along the length of the bowl and into the flue of the kiln, while the lower contained small pieces of burnt wood in situ. The lenses of charcoal were separated by and overlay a greyish brown sandy clay containing ash, flecks of charcoal and small inclusions of burnt clay. This deposit was similar to the clay which directly overlay the fire-reddened basal cut of the bowl of the kiln.

Three deposits sampled in the drying kiln contained the remains of poorly preserved carbonised grains of barley. The stratified sequence within the kiln and the information gained from analysis of the charred seed remains indicate mechanical processes associated with the reworking of the kiln.

39 Trees Road, Mount Merrion