Hut site, Alternan Park, Co. Sligo

Co. Sligo |

Settlement Sites

Hut site, Alternan Park, Co. Sligo

There is a particular kind of archaeological patience required to stand in a field in County Sligo and look at something that is barely there.

In a stretch of gently undulating coastal pasture near the Ballymeeny River, a rectangular hut site survives in what can only be described as a whisper of its former self: a low, barely discernible bank of earth and stone tracing a footprint measuring roughly 5.3 metres by 3.3 metres. The interior sits at almost the same level as the surrounding ground, and the north-eastern edge of the perimeter is so faint as to be nearly impossible to follow. The deep-sided ravine of the Ballymeeny River runs approximately 40 metres to the east, suggesting whoever once sheltered here had reasons both practical and geographical for choosing the spot.

What makes this small site quietly interesting is that it does not stand alone. Between the outer wall of the hut and a secondary enclosing bank on three sides, a narrow gap of between 0.4 and 0.5 metres survives. That outer bank appears to be part of a broader system of ancient field boundaries, remnants of which can still be traced extending to the south-east and east-south-east. A rath, roughly 100 metres to the south-west, adds further weight to the sense of a once-organised landscape; a rath is a roughly circular earthwork enclosure, typically associated with early medieval farmsteads. A holy well lies about 120 metres to the north-north-east, and a second hut site sits some 50 metres to the north-east. Taken together, these features suggest a small but coherent settlement pattern, now so levelled and worn that only the faintest outlines remain legible in the turf.

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Pete F
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