Description and History of Site:-
This is a complex site with a shallow quarry c. 50m north-west of the kilns (at SD 737 708) which is c. 250m in length and c. 50m in width, aligned NW-SE, and c. 2.5m deep, clearly formerly worked as a series of discrete parcels, possibly with each parcel relating to each of the kilns. It is now totally grass-covered.

The lime kilns show as a row of six turf-covered bowls, of varying size and detailed shape, but all are a type of early clamp kiln called sow kilns - a penannular bowl with an upcast rim and a flue/stokehole passage on the lower side. This form of kiln is known from Roman times to the 1850s. Most sow kilns are lost in the depths of unrecorded history but two of these were fully excavated in 2005 as part of its wider Sow Kiln Project by Ingleborough Archaeology Group. One of them was radiocarbon dated from a small assemblage of horse bones that had been carefully deposited within the flue as a closure ritual. Two dates were obtained form different bones:

AD 1440-1640 at 95.4% probability or 1450-1530 at 47.6% probability
AD 1470-1660 at 95.4% or 1520-1600 at 50.7%.

Further Reading and References:-
Johnson, D. 2006. The sow kiln project. Excavation of clamp kilns in the Yorkshire Dales. Ingleton: Ingleborough Archaeology Group, pp. 26-34, 46-51.
Johnson, D. 2007. 'Lime-kilns, "improvement", and superstition' Current Archaeology 28 (9), pp. 40-44.

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Key Words :- disused limestone quarry sow kiln complex

Viewing the Site :- Open Access under the CRoW Act 2000

Address :- n/a, Newby Cote, Lancaster, North Yorkshire, LA2
Grid Ref :- SD 7365 7081
Co-ordinates :- Lat 54.132456 , Long -2.404752
Local Authority :- Craven District Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site extant - Protected status unknown
Site Condition :- Earthworks only
Site Dates :- unknown - unknown
Record Date :- 29 January 2018

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © David Johnson