Hut site, Annagh More, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Settlement Sites
In the bogland of Annagh More in County Kerry, a low oval outline breaks the surface of the ground, its collapsed drystone walls still tracing the shape of a structure that once sheltered someone.
The remains measure roughly two metres from north to south and 1.6 metres east to west, making this a very small space indeed, closer in scale to a shelter or temporary sleeping place than any kind of permanent domestic building.
The hut sits within the southern sector of a larger enclosure, suggesting it was not a standalone feature but part of a more organised arrangement of space. Drystone construction, which uses no mortar and relies instead on the careful fitting of stones against one another, was common across early Irish settlement sites. The walls here have long since collapsed inward, and the interior is now obscured by grass-covered rubble. What survives above the bog surface stands only about 0.3 metres high, with a wall thickness of around 0.6 metres, enough to confirm the original construction method even in its ruined state. The north to south axis is the better-preserved stretch, which gives at least a partial sense of the hut's original outline. The bog itself has played a dual role, both burying the structure over time and, in its own slow way, helping to preserve what remains.