Kiln, Beside 98 Glen Road, Glenariff, Ballymena, Co. Antrim

Lime Kiln beside 98 Glen Road, Glenariff, Ballymena, County Antrim

A later 19th century lime kiln of rubble basalt construction, built between 1880 and 1899, cut into a west-facing slope in the townland of Craignagat. The kiln is square in plan with squared rubble quoins and represents a modest, unadorned example of the rural industrial structures that once served local farming communities, providing burnt limestone for use as mortar, fertiliser and whitewash.

The kiln's design and construction are typical of such structures. At the base of its west elevation is a splayed opening with three diminishing segmental arches formed of roughly dressed basalt voussoirs. These arches lead to a draw hole at the innermost point, from which the burnt lime was extracted. Directly above this hole is a small square poking hole used to clear any blockages in the pot. The vertical cylindrical pot is lined with rubble stonework rather than bricks and remains open all the way down to the draw hole at its base. The top of the kiln is level with a track that runs along the back of the structure, leading to a nearby farmhouse. This positioning—with access at the top for loading and at the base for emptying—was crucial to the kiln's operation.

The kiln retains much of its original fabric and remains largely intact, though it is now separated from the track by a collapsed rubble wall and post-and-wire fence. In front of the kiln lies a large heap of flint nodules, discarded waste from lime extraction. A path has recently been cut through this accumulation to provide access to the draw hole for amenity purposes.

The structure does not appear on the 1853 Ordnance Survey map or in valuation revision books of that era. It is marked as a disused lime kiln on the 1903 map and as an active lime kiln on the 1920 edition, suggesting it became disused around the turn of the 20th century before being revived temporarily around the First World War. The kiln is now surrounded on three sides by a grassed area forming part of the garden to a modern bungalow situated a short distance to the northwest. Of local and industrial archaeological interest.