Hut site, Barnastooka, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Barnastooka, Co. Kerry

On a south-facing slope in Barnastooka, County Kerry, a set of collapsed stone foundations outlines a space barely large enough for two people to lie down in.

The internal area measures just 1.6 metres north to south and 2 metres east to west, enclosed by a wall that was once up to 1.5 metres thick. That proportion, walls nearly as massive as the interior they surrounded, is one of the quietly arresting things about this small structure. A gap of roughly one metre in the east wall is thought to mark the original entrance, opening the hut towards the morning light.

The site came to attention in 2010, during archaeological testing carried out in connection with the Barnastooka Wind Farm development. The foundations, sub-circular in plan, sit on a level terrace cut into the hillside, a common feature of upland hut sites where builders sought even ground on otherwise sloping terrain. Such structures appear across the Irish uplands in various forms and periods, from early medieval pastoral shelters to post-medieval booley huts used during seasonal grazing. The Barnastooka example has not been definitively dated or classified, and is recorded cautiously as a possible monument, meaning its archaeological character is recognised but not yet confirmed through excavation or detailed survey.

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