County: Wexford Site name: Taghmon
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 08E0627
Author: Red Tobin, RedArc Ltd, 35 Brook Meadow, Avoca, Co Wicklow.
Site type: Early medieval cereal-drying kiln
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 691509m, N 619915m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.323224, -6.657596
The kiln site was located in a green field sloping slightly to the south. The field boundary adjacent to the site on the east also represents the limit of the zone of archaeological potential for the town of Taghmon (WX041–008). The site also lies north of WX041–007 (a field system). The nearest listed monuments to the development site are WX041–008(007), a church, and WX041–008(011), a graveyard. The land is well drained and currently under pasture.
Monitoring of topsoil removal and ground reduction revealed an area of dark soil, structural stones and charcoal. The area was cleaned by hand to determine the nature and extent of the deposit. The site was c. 9m in length. Its northern extremity was defined by a subcircular to oval feature, 1.8m in diameter. This feature was defined by a contiguous stone setting on its eastern side. This feature was linked to the rest of the feature by a narrow isthmus of dark soil with charcoal inclusions. A further stone setting was apparent at the confluence of this narrow isthmus to the main bulk of the spread. The main bulk of the feature is to the south and was defined by dark soil with a relatively high frequency of charcoal. Charcoal density increased to the southern extremity of the site.
Excavation confirmed that the site was indeed a drying kiln. The kiln structure was defined by the kiln itself at the northern extremity of the site. An earth-cut flue linked the kiln to the hearth and rake-out areas. The evidence from the kiln suggests that it functioned effectively over a considerable period. In its earliest form the kiln was earth cut but was later altered by the inclusion of stone slabs. These served to elongate and better define the flue, while also extending the effective life of the kiln.
Dates and species analysis are forthcoming. The date for the Taghmon kiln is likely to fall between the 7th and 10th centuries. In its basic form the kiln is similar to sites excavated by the writer at Corbally and Belan, Co. Kildare, and at Newcastle Lyons, Co. Dublin.
