Hut site, Ballynabrocky, Co. Wicklow

Co. Wicklow |

Settlement Sites

Hut site, Ballynabrocky, Co. Wicklow

On a north-east-facing slope in County Wicklow, two small structures sit just two metres apart, overlooking a valley known locally as the Shaking Bog.

The name alone is worth pausing on: "shaking bog" typically refers to a floating mat of vegetation over waterlogged ground, the kind of terrain that moves underfoot and discouraged settlement for centuries. That anyone chose to build here, however modestly, says something about how people once read and used marginal landscapes.

The hut itself is modest by any measure. An oblong platform, roughly three metres in one direction and two and a half in the other, is defined by a low bank of stone and sod, still standing around forty centimetres high and about seventy centimetres wide. A possible entrance opening faces north-east. Its neighbour, a separate but closely associated hut site, lies just to the south. Structures like these, small, banked enclosures on upland or marginal ground, are broadly associated with seasonal or pastoral use, though without excavation it is difficult to say more about when they were built or by whom. The proximity of the two huts suggests they functioned together, perhaps sheltering people or animals during summer grazing, a practice known in Ireland as booleying.

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Pete F
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