Hut site, Baile Uí Shé, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Settlement Sites
Just below the crest of a ridge on the northern edge of the Ballyheabought river valley on the Dingle Peninsula, two small stone huts sit close together without quite touching, as though placed there by someone who wanted proximity without permanence.
They are modest structures by any measure, dry-stone buildings of the kind that have dotted the Kerry landscape for centuries, yet the specifics of their survival reward a closer look. The northern hut is circular, roughly 3.5 metres across, and its interior has been entirely filled in by the collapse of its own walls over time, leaving a low mound of stone rather than a readable interior. Its neighbour to the south is oval in plan, slightly larger at 4 by 3.5 metres, and survives to a height of around 0.6 metres. A small enclosure, measuring 5 by 4 metres, adjoins the western sides of both huts, suggesting the whole arrangement once functioned as a compact unit, probably for a person or small group engaged in seasonal agriculture or animal herding.
This part of the Corca Dhuibhne, the ancient territory that encompasses much of the Dingle Peninsula, is extraordinarily dense with early remains. Clochán, the Irish term for dry-stone corbelled huts of this type, are a characteristic feature of the peninsula's upland landscape, and many were associated with transhumance, the practice of moving livestock to higher ground in summer months. The site was recorded by J. Cuppage in the 1986 Dingle Peninsula Archaeological Survey, a systematic study of the area's field monuments published under the auspices of Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne. Wall thickness on both structures runs to around 1.2 to 1.4 metres, which is typical of corbelled construction, where thick walls compensate for the inward-leaning stones that form the roof without the use of mortar or timber.