Hut site, Baile An Bhaoithín, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Baile An Bhaoithín, Co. Kerry

On the lower south-south-east facing slopes of Croaghmarhin on the Dingle Peninsula, a small stone enclosure sits quietly among the hillside.

Known as Cahernagat, or Cathair na gCat in Irish, it belongs to a class of early medieval stone enclosures called cashels, essentially ringforts built from dry-laid stone rather than earthen banks. What makes this one particularly worth attention is what it contains: two ruined stone huts, a souterrain (an underground stone-lined passage, likely used for storage or refuge), and an ogham stone, one of the upright inscribed stones that represent the earliest form of writing in Ireland, using a system of notches and lines cut along the edges of the stone.

The two huts sit side by side within the enclosure. The first, in the south-west sector, is roughly circular in plan and measures about 3.6 metres north to south and 3 metres east to west internally. It was built using drystone technique, meaning the walls were constructed without mortar, relying entirely on the careful placement of stone. Only the inner wall-face survives above ground, and at its tallest it reaches just 38 centimetres. A gap of around 2.4 metres in the eastern facing may mark the position of an original entrance passage connecting it to the second hut, which sits directly to the east and has a corresponding break in its own walling. That second hut is oval or circular in plan, measuring 4.8 metres north to south internally, though only the western half of the wall can still be traced; the outer face has been lost under collapsed stone. The two structures appear to have been designed in relation to one another, their facing gaps suggesting a deliberate internal arrangement rather than simple decay. The site was documented by J. Cuppage in the 1986 Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey, a foundational reference for the archaeology of Corca Dhuibhne.

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