A medieval kiln has been uncovered during excavation work on a construction site in Ballybofey, Co Donegal.
The corn-drying kiln, believed to be more than 600 years old, was discovered recently on the site at Navenny outside the town. The site is owned by the contractors Thomas Doherty and McMeniman Brothers, who plan to build up to 30 houses on the site.
The kiln was discovered when archaeologists opened trenches in different parts of the field. The site was subject to an archaeological planning condition.
Eoghan Kieran, archaeological director of the site, said that one of the test trenches cut through the four-metre flue of the kiln.
Mr Kieran and two other archaeologists started excavating the kiln last week. He said he was very excited and surprised by the find.
"It's an impressive structure. Historically, there are no records of archaeological activity in this area, so to find this is pretty good," Mr Kieran said.
"Lime kilns would be much more common but this type of kiln would pre-date them. It would have been used by farmers but it is not an easy thing to build and they would have gone to some trouble to build it," he said.