At Farrankelly in County Wicklow, construction work in 2020 brought to light a crescent-shaped kiln, a small but precisely built structure that once processed grain or other materials through a sequence of fire, heat, and drying. Corn-drying kilns of this type were a common feature of early medieval Irish farming, used to dry harvested grain before milling or storage, and they often appear close to settlement enclosures or burial grounds. This one was no exception.

The discovery had its roots in a geophysical survey carried out in 2015 by Joanna Leigh, which detected two circular ditch-type responses in the southwest corner of the proposed development area, measuring roughly 11.25 metres and 12.25 metres in diameter. These appeared to sit within a larger, less clearly defined circular feature, possibly an enclosure. Testing followed in 2017, led by Rob Lynch and Enda Lydon of IAC Archaeology, and three distinct archaeological areas were identified. It was in Area 2C that the kiln was subsequently excavated in 2020 by Muireann Ní Cheallacháin, also of IAC Archaeology. The kiln lay approximately 4.5 metres south of a known burial ground and consisted of a stone-lined fire chamber measuring around 1.2 metres by 1 metre, a flue extending roughly 1.9 metres to the east, and a drying chamber at the southeast end. The fire chamber still held heat-affected stones, some of them in their original positions, along with a fill of greyish-white and red sand and clay bearing clear evidence of in-situ burning along its sides. The drying chamber contained loose black sand with frequent charcoal, slag, and fire-cracked stone, the accumulated residue of repeated use. An upper layer of friable, charcoal-flecked silt had settled across the entire kiln, sealing it until the ground was opened again seven or eight centuries later.