I was in KCLR recently chatting with Monica Hayes who is well known for her beautifully crafted packages on many and varied a topic that go out, from time to time, on Sue's programme.

Monica is currently planning a series of programmes on limestone and she knew of my liking for, and use of, the material.

Hence our chat.

As we discussed her plan for the sequence of six programes we acknowledged also the importace of limestone to agriculture and in the farmyard: because burnt limestone - lime - was, and still is, widely used for the de-acidification of soil, the making of lime wash and as a disinfectant.
And, of course, before cement, it was the primary bonding agent in farm buildings and walls.

And this reminded me that Kilkenny - for the obvious reason that it is a primary limestone area - is dotted with lime kilns in which limestone was burnt for the production of this vital element of rural life.

Many of them are now overgrown and obscured by bramble and briar but this one.....

.......at Lavistown, is not only fully visible but is in excellent condition.

But when I stopped to photograhph it, on the way home from our chat, I was confronted with a conundrum because this kiln is plainly, itself, constructed from limestone - so why has the limestone in the burning area..............

.......not been converted to lime over the countless firings repeated, I presume, over the century,or more, of its active life?