Hut site, Gortlahard, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Settlement Sites
On a south-facing slope in the valley of the Glashanaglaragh stream, in the rough hill pasture of Gortlahard, a small circular structure sits on a natural terrace as if it has simply been waiting to be noticed.
It measures just 4.4 metres in diameter, its drystone walls, built without mortar by careful fitting of stone against stone, still standing to around a metre in height along the south-west to south-east arc, though collapsed elsewhere. A level area of loose stones lies just outside the fallen southern wall, the kind of scatter that sometimes marks where a doorway or a working area once was.
What makes this hut site quietly interesting is the care evident in its construction and placement. The interior has been cut a full metre down into the hillside on the northern, upslope side, a technique that would have provided both a level floor and some shelter from wind and weather, with the natural earth acting as part of the wall. The remaining stonework, where it survives, is 0.8 metres thick, substantial for a structure of this size. The interior is now strewn with rubble from the collapsed sections. Circular hut sites of this kind are found across upland Ireland and are associated variously with seasonal pastoral use, the practice of moving livestock to higher ground in summer, or with permanent settlement during earlier periods. Without excavation it is difficult to assign a firm date to any individual example, and this one is no exception.