Hut site, Tullaghansleek, Co. Westmeath

Co. Westmeath |

Settlement Sites

Hut site, Tullaghansleek, Co. Westmeath

In the low-lying pasture of Tullaghansleek, a small arrangement of stones sits inside an earthwork that most people would walk across without a second thought.

What makes it worth a second thought is a U-shaped setting of stones, roughly five metres across internally, tucked into the south-south-western arc of the enclosure's interior, close to the perimeter bank. It appears to be the remains of a small hut, though whether it belongs to the original life of the monument or arrived there later is genuinely unknown.

The enclosure itself was recorded in 1977 as a ringfort, a category of monument that in Ireland typically dates to the early medieval period, roughly the fifth to the twelfth centuries, and would have served as a farmstead enclosed by an earthen or stone bank. This example sits on a slight rise, the kind of modest elevation that would have offered a dry footing and perhaps a clear view of the surrounding ground. It is small and roughly circular, defined by a low bank of earth and stone that is only clearly visible on its eastern side. There is no surviving fosse, the term for the external ditch that often accompanies such enclosures, which either never existed here or has been lost over the centuries to cultivation and grazing. The U-shaped stone setting within the bank adds a layer of ambiguity: ringforts often contained internal structures, but whether this particular arrangement is an original feature of the site or a later addition, perhaps a shelter built long after the fort ceased to function as a settlement, remains an open question.

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Pete F
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