Monument record MHG51507 - Possible threshing barn and corn kiln, Kinakyle

This feature was initially noted during a walkover survey in October 2007. <1>

This building measures 15.75m by 4.5m and is aligned NE-SW. This is the best preserved and most prominent feature, occupying a slight rise at the SW end of the township area. The main structure is a rectangular building divided into two compartments measuring internally 9.5m by 3m and 2.75m by 2.5. The smaller, NE compartment is rounded and stands to a height of 0.75m and has the appearance of a corn kiln. The larger, SW compartment may have opposing doorways and may be a threshing barn. The walling is grassy and spread but a number of stones are visible, particularly immediately to the east of the SE doorway, where a row of outer facing stones is visible. A mound of rubble in the south corner may be buttressing. Extending to the SW is a low bank and a row of stones which may represent the remains of an extension, although other possible banks may be the work of rabbits. To the SE a square, slightly sunken area bounded by low spread banks may be a stackyard. At two points internally, rabbits have burrowed under stones which may be the lowest course of stone facing to the base of the walls. <2>

An evaluation trench (trench 1) was excavated across this structure in April 2008 to try and explore its function. Structure A exhibited good evidence, at its north-eastern end, of a stone-built corn-drying kiln, complete with slate floor. This latter feature, together with the suggestion of opposing doors across the buildings’ middle, is strongly suggestive of a kilnbarn arrangement. The presence of a series of walls running across the long axis of the building, however, casts some doubt on a simple history of use and may imply that either the kiln was added onto a pre-existing building or that the structure has gone through a number of phases of use and alteration. Although rabbit damage was noted at various locations during the evaluation, this structure is generally well preserved and may have been one of the last buildings to be abandoned at this site. <3>