House - indeterminate date, Cill Mhuirbhigh, Co. Galway

Co. Galway |

House

House – indeterminate date, Cill Mhuirbhigh, Co. Galway

On the bare limestone of Inis Mór, 130 metres west of the ancient ringfort of Dún Eoghanachta, two conjoined drystone structures sit in a state of pleasing ambiguity.

They are subcircular in plan, built without mortar in the manner common to the Aran Islands, and nobody is entirely certain what they are or when they were built. That uncertainty is itself part of what makes them worth pausing over.

The larger of the two structures runs roughly 9.25 metres north to south and 8.9 metres east to west; the smaller, to its north, measures 5.8 metres by 3.8 metres and may have served as an annexe, with an entrance gap facing south-east. Drystone construction, in which stones are carefully stacked and interlocked without any binding material, has been practised on these islands for millennia, which makes dating by appearance alone unreliable. The walls here bear a close resemblance to the field boundaries that divide up the surrounding limestone plateau, and that likeness is the crux of the problem. The structures could represent a dwelling of some age, or they could be a relatively recent farmhouse and animal pen, built or rebuilt in a tradition that has changed little across the centuries. No date has been established.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of House – indeterminate date, Cill Mhuirbhigh, Co. Galway. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement