Hut site, Carrignamuck, Co. Wicklow

Co. Wicklow |

Settlement Sites

Hut site, Carrignamuck, Co. Wicklow

On a gentle south-facing slope in Carrignamuck, County Wicklow, a circle of large stone blocks marks out a space barely three and a half metres across.

Small enough to feel intimate, large enough to have sheltered a person or a small group, the structure retains what may be a hearth on its southern side, formed from upright slabs set into the ground. The question mark attached to that identification is honest; the slabs could have served another purpose, and the site has not given up all its answers.

What makes the spot quietly compelling is that it does not stand alone. Just five metres to the north-east lies a second, sub-rectangular hut site, meaning the two structures were almost certainly part of the same small settlement, however temporary or seasonal that occupation may have been. Hut sites of this kind, defined by stone footings rather than earthen banks, are found across upland and marginal landscapes throughout Ireland, often associated with transhumance, the old practice of moving livestock to higher grazing ground in summer months, or with other forms of temporary land use that left only the faintest architectural trace. The internal diameter of three and a half metres is consistent with a modest single-roomed shelter rather than any kind of formal building. The large defining blocks would originally have supported a timber, turf, or thatch superstructure, long since gone.

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Pete F
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