House - indeterminate date, Coill Bhaile Uí Fhlaithimh, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
House
On the lower north-western slopes of Cummeen mountain in County Kerry, overlooking the valley of the Owencashla river, a shallow hollow in the ground measuring roughly four metres by three is easy to walk past without a second glance.
It has a stony rim, the kind of low raised edge that only registers as significant once you know what to look for. Classified as a possible hut-site, it sits in close proximity to another structure and to the wall of a cashel, the Irish term for a stone-walled enclosure typically associated with early medieval settlement, and its date remains entirely unknown.
The site forms part of the broader complex known as Caherbaun, or An Chathair Bhán, a name that translates roughly as the white stone fort. The area falls within the townland of Coill Bhaile Uí Fhlaithimh on the Dingle Peninsula, a stretch of west Kerry that has long attracted archaeological attention for the density of early remains compressed into its landscape. The feature described here, catalogued as structure five within the Caherbaun grouping, was documented by J. Cuppage in the 1986 Corca Dhuibhne archaeological survey of the Dingle Peninsula, a landmark regional study that brought together records of monuments across the area. Whether the hollow represents a true hut-site or something else entirely, the survey stops short of saying with confidence.