Lime Kiln, Herbert Street, Carnlough, Ballymena, Co Antrim

Lime Kiln, Herbert Street, Carnlough

This is a mid-19th century lime kiln of distinctive form and unusual structural system, built in 1855 by Richard Wilson, land agent to the Marchioness of Londonderry. It is of considerable local interest as a relic of the former industrial activity of the village and has added importance as a rare survival of its type following the loss of other brick-flue kilns in the area.

The kiln is constructed of limestone rubble and firebrick and comprises a long single-storey base, raised at one end to form a square podium which is surmounted by a circular flue of pulvinated profile. The base is aligned on an east to west axis with the main opening facing north and an opening in the flue facing south. To the left-hand side below the podium and flue is a small rectangular kiln opening, and to the right a larger rectangular main opening, though this is not accessible due to overgrowth enveloping the base. The west end of the base contains a segmental arched doorway of yellow firebrick, now blocked up with limestone rubble, with large firebrick blocks used as quoins at this end. The square podium has two short nib walls projecting at the corners on the west face.

The red firebrick flue stands on a base course of large firebrick blocks atop the square podium. A small rectangular opening on the south side of the flue has plain reveals, a curved flat iron bar to the head, and large firebrick blocks to the recessed cill fronted by a deep iron strap running continuously around the flue and bolted on the west side. The interior is of circular form both within the square base and within the flue, and is open at the top, lined with firebrick headers up to cill level where an offset of firebrick blocks occurs. Above the offset the flue walling is a single skin of red firebrick. One of the firebrick blocks of the offset is stamped with an oval manufacturer's mark inscribed with "Ferguslie, Paisley" and "R. Brown & Son".

The structure stands in a walled yard in Herbert Street, built against the north embankment of the former mineral railway and separated from the pedestrian path on the embankment by modern steel fencing. The yard is surfaced in grass and contains derelict single-storey sheds. Embankment walling to the west of the kiln is of limestone rubble with trees and overgrowth on top. The front boundary walling to the yard is of basalt and limestone rubble, containing a pair of corrugated iron doors mounted between a rendered square pier and a roughly squared limestone rubble garage. A short distance to the east along the former railway embankment are the former railway bridges over High Street and Harbour Road. Together with these bridges and the embankment to which it is attached, the kiln forms part of an interesting group.

The success of this kiln apparently induced the Marchioness of Londonderry to have a group of five larger kilns built off Waterfall Road in 1857, but these have now been demolished.