School: Dean Kelly Memorial (roll number 16639)
- Location:
- Athlone, Co. Westmeath
- Teacher: D. Cahalene
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0748, Page 169
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- XML “Lime-Burning”
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- “Lime Burning”Long ago the people of this country were very industrious and had many crafts and industries of their own. The best know industry in the neighbourhood is lime burning. Athlone supplies the neighbouring towns with lime. Some people come from places such as Ballinasloe and Ballymahon to get lime in this town. There are many people round Athlone who make quite a lot of money out of the lime-industry.To burn lime, the first thing you have to do is to dig a large circular hole in the ground, and line it with bricks or rocks. This accomplised, the next thing to be done is to get a plentiful supply of coke and bushes. You put the bushes in first, then the coke on top of that, and the limestone on top of the coke. Then the bushes are set on fire, and after a while the coke starts to light. The kiln (the name used for the hole in the ground) is then covered over with galvanised iron. It is then left to burn for a few days. Every morning the owner of kiln comes and puts more fuel and limestone into it. After three days burning the fire is then let go out. The lime is then taken out and put into two separate heaps. One of the heaps contains slack-lime, the other rock-lime.The rock-lime is used for whitewashing houses, and the slack-lime is used as a disinfectant(continues on next page)
