County: Dublin Site name: FLEMINGTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0296
Author: Emmet Byrnes, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Kiln - corn-drying
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 717577m, N 764663m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.618582, -6.222793
Excavation of a kiln was carried out at Flemingtown, Co. Dublin, as part of the Bord Gáis Éireann Pipeline to the West project (Section 6: Gormanston to Ballough). The site was revealed during monitoring of topsoil-stripping and was recorded as a tadpole-shaped feature with a charcoal-rich fill and intense oxidisation at its wider end. Excavation revealed a simple grain-drying kiln: a subcircular ‘bowl’ or pit, 0.26m deep, with a shallow curvilinear ‘flue’ or trench extending from it. It was cut entirely into the natural subsoil and measured 3.72m in maximum length. Three fills were identified in the bowl of the kiln, indicating at least three episodes of use. Samples taken from each fill produced carbonised barley grains. Although a definite date must await a radiocarbon determination, a simple earth-cut kiln of very similar form and proportions to that at Flemingtown was excavated at Doonmoon, Co. Limerick. It was near a ring-ditch and was dated to the Early Bronze Age (Gowen 1988).
Reference
Gowen, M. 1988 Three Irish gas pipelines: new archaeological evidence in Munster. Dublin.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
