County: Louth Site name: Mullagharlin
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: Corn-drying kiln and spread
Author: Ellen O’Carroll, Margaret Gowen & Company, 27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Site type: Corn-drying kiln and spread
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 704778m, N 803791m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.972773, -6.402864
Testing was carried out along the proposed route of a distributor road at the proposed IDA development site in Mullagharlin townland, Dundalk. Monitoring was also undertaken within the footprint of the proposed surface water discharge associated with the road development. Two sites of archaeological potential were identified during testing. These were two subrectangular pits located in the western corner of the development site at the location of a proposed roundabout.
Mullagharlin 0010 was filled with a series of distinct layers of charcoal, clay and yellow ash material and upon excavation was shown to be a figure-of-eight corn-drying kiln. The kiln, including fire-bowl, flue and drying chamber, measured 2.45m in overall length. It was set into the side of a slope, with the fire-pit on the higher elevation. Post-excavation analyisis and dating is ongoing.
Mullagharlin 0011 was located 30m north-west of Mullagharlin 0010 and was filled with angular stones in a loose mid-grey silty charcoal-enriched clay. This pit measured 2.2m east–west by 1.25m and was 0.12m in depth. A series of drainage ditches and linear field boundaries were also recorded during the course of testing and monitoring. These features were of a late date and did not require any further investigation.
