Hut site, Gearhanagoul, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Settlement Sites
On a south-facing slope above the valley of the Coomeelan stream in County Kerry, a small oval structure sits in rough hill pasture, largely unremarked and easy to miss.
It measures just three metres north to south and two and a half metres east to west, its drystone walls, built without mortar, now partially collapsed and standing no more than sixty centimetres high. What draws the eye, if you know what to look for, is the quiet engineering of the interior: the builders cut into the upslope on the northern side and raised the southern portion slightly, so that the floor inside sits perfectly level despite the gradient of the hillside. That small act of careful levelling, carried out with nothing more than stone and labour, is what distinguishes a ruin with intention from a random scatter of rocks.
Drystone hut sites of this kind are found across the uplands of south-west Kerry, associated broadly with seasonal or marginal habitation, though precise dating without excavation is difficult. The technique of cutting into a slope to create a level platform, sometimes called scarping, is a practical and ancient solution to building on uneven ground. The walls here are best preserved along the south-east to south-west arc, suggesting the structure once offered reasonable shelter against the prevailing weather from the north and west. A second hut site lies approximately eight metres to the north, hinting that this was not an isolated refuge but part of a small cluster, perhaps used by people grazing animals on the hill during summer months, a practice known in Ireland as booleying.