Monument record MDR13219 - Corn-drying kiln, Castleton Road, Castleton

A watching brief along the line of a Severn Trent Water replacement sewer at Castleton identified a number of features within the Spittal field on the east side of the town, close to the traditional site of the medieval Hospital of St Mary in the Peak. Towards the western edge of the field a corn-drying kiln was exposed and excavated. This consisted of a stone-built oven and flue, the oven chamber being 1.8m in diameter and surviving to some six courses (0.7m) in height set back into the slope of the valley side above the river, with a stone-capped flue at least 4m in length. Dating evidence was sparse, indicating operation some time between the 14th-15th and 15th-17th centuries. This would allow for an association with the medieval hospital, but it is perhaps more likely to relate to agricultural exploitation of the fields after the 16th century dissolution of the hospital. Once out of use, the structure had been partly demolished and the chamber backfilled with stone rubble. (1)