Kirkby Gate lime kiln

Description

View of Kirkby Gate lime kiln MYD36127 (c) YDNPA, 2023

This well-preserved late 19th century draw type lime kiln, sited near to Kirkby Gate was ideally situated to exploit the limestone outcrops all around it. A small-scale commercial lime kiln such as this one was built to burn limestone for local use. The quicklime produced was slaked with water to produce calcium hydroxide (slaked lime). This was mostly used to improve grassland by reducing the acidity of the soil, especially of intake land or reclaimed moorland during the enclosures of the 18th and 19th centuries. Slaked lime was also an important ingredient in making lime mortar. This example seems to have been relatively short lived since the quarries around it are small. Its owners probably couldn’t compete with more efficient and advanced production elsewhere, for example the Hoffmann Kiln at Craven Lime Works 5 miles to the west.

Kirkby Gate lime kiln MYD36127 (c) David Johnson, 2004

Source:

Johnson, David (2002) Limestone Industries of the Yorkshire Dales. Stroud: Tempus