County: Kildare Site name: Belan
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E002958
Author: Red Tobin, Headland Archaeology Ltd, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork.
Site type: Cereal-processing complex
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 677357m, N 689632m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.951893, -6.848828
This site was excavated as part of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford scheme, Phase 3: Kilcullen to Carlow. Centreline trenching (CRDS 2006) revealed a stone-lined kiln, a possible kiln and a number of burnt anomalies. The site was located in the north-eastern corner of a large field under tillage dominated by a gravel ridge to the south-west and bounded to the east by the modern road.
The remains of eight cereal-drying kilns were identified and subsequently fully excavated. Three of the kilns were in a highly truncated state, while the other five were well preserved or slightly truncated. A number of linear ditches were recorded extending across the site and these may represent the remains of early medieval field enclosure associated with the cereal processing on site. A large circular cut lined with orange clay (048) was situated directly north-west of the stone-lined kiln. Two deep post-holes were identified either side of 048. A truncated hearth, two possible pits and three burnt features located across the site were also excavated. A curvilinear feature filled with burnt material extended in a line running concentric to the north-western edge of 048. This may have represented the remains of a windbreak associated with the adjacent kiln activity.
This site represents the archaeological remains of an agri-industrial complex of possible 6th–8th-century date. This period of use is suggested through the morphology of the cereal-drying kilns.
