Hut site, An Gabhlán Thoir, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Settlement Sites

Hut site, An Gabhlán Thoir, Co. Kerry

At An Gabhlán Thoir on the Dingle Peninsula, a pair of ancient circular huts sit pressed against the interior of a much older enclosure, their outlines still legible in the ground despite centuries of disturbance.

What makes the arrangement quietly peculiar is its intimacy: two conjoined structures sharing walls and space within a ringfort, one noticeably smaller than the other, and extending northward from them a pair of parallel mounds whose purpose nobody has satisfactorily explained.

The site belongs to a class of monument known as a univallate ringfort, meaning an enclosure defined by a single surrounding bank or wall, typically dating from the early medieval period in Ireland. This one has not survived well. The bank to the south is the most legible feature remaining, and it is directly against this southern bank that the two hut outlines can be traced. The western hut is the more clearly defined of the pair, measuring roughly four metres across internally and bounded by a low stony bank about sixty centimetres high and two metres wide. The eastern hut is considerably less distinct, but appears to have been larger, at around eight metres in overall diameter. The two parallel mounds that run northward from the huts were noted by J. Cuppage in the 1986 archaeological survey of the Corca Dhuibhne region, which remains the primary published account of the site, and even then their origin was recorded as unclear. That ambiguity has not since been resolved. Whether the mounds are structural remains, field boundaries, or something else entirely is a question the landscape has so far declined to answer.

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 Hut site, An Gabhlán Thoir, Co. Kerry. 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