Hut site, Carrigawannia, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Carrigawannia, Co. Kerry

On a north-east-sloping hollow in the rough hill pasture of Carrigawannia, County Kerry, a small circular structure sits half-swallowed by heather and peaty soil.

It is easy to miss, and that is rather the point. The remains measure just 2.8 metres in diameter, its walls no more than half a metre tall, built from stones that were never dressed or carefully coursed but simply placed, with larger boulders drawn into the fabric of the wall at the south, south-west, north-west, and north sides. Whatever purpose it once served, it has long since been reclaimed by the landscape around it.

What gives the site additional weight is that it does not stand alone. Two further hut sites lie within easy walking distance, one approximately 15 metres to the south-east and another roughly 20 metres to the south-west. Taken together, the three structures form a loose cluster, suggesting that whoever used this hollow did so in some organised, if modest, way. Hut sites of this kind are found across upland Ireland and are notoriously difficult to date without excavation; they could represent seasonal shelters used by those moving livestock to summer grazing, a practice known in Irish as booleying, or they may relate to other forms of agricultural or domestic activity whose precise character the ground alone cannot reveal. The rough construction and the incorporation of natural boulders into the walls are typical of such sites, where the priority was shelter rather than permanence.

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Pete F
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