Hut site, Coolnatullagh, Co. Clare
Co. Clare |
Settlement Sites
On a narrow ledge just below the north-eastern summit of Gortaclare Mountain in County Clare, someone once built a home.
The remains of a circular hut site, roughly 7.5 metres in diameter, sit on that ledge today, small enough to seem almost incidental against the mountain's bulk, yet precise enough in its placement to suggest deliberate choice. What makes this particular spot quietly arresting is not just the single structure but the company it keeps: a second hut site lies approximately 7 metres to the south-west on the same ledge, and further down the slopes, around 250 metres to the north-east, a cluster of between fifteen and twenty irregular hut sites occupies the lower ground.
The site was noted by researcher Ros Ó Maoldúin and identified through aerial imagery, including Digital Globe photography from 2011 to 2013 and OSi Aerial Premium coverage from 2012 to 2018. Hut sites of this kind, typically the footprints of dry-stone or turf-walled shelters used by people living or working at altitude, are found across upland Ireland, though they are not always easy to read from the ground. The concentration here, with the paired ledge structures set apart from the larger, looser grouping below, raises questions about how the mountain was used and by whom. Whether the upper and lower clusters relate to one another, and across what period, remains open.