Hut site, Cill Buaine, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Cill Buaine, Co. Kerry

On the lower south-western slopes of Knocknaskereighta, in a patch of pasture in Cill Buaine, there sits a small circular arrangement of upright stone slabs set on top of a low mound.

It is modest almost to the point of invisibility, measuring roughly 3.3 metres by 2.5 metres, yet it represents a form of early human shelter that appears repeatedly across the Irish landscape, quiet and easy to overlook.

This type of structure is generally classed as a hut site, the remains of a simple dwelling built from stone, where upright slabs would once have formed the lower walls or the kerbing of a low earthen base. A possible entrance can be detected on the south-eastern side, the orientation perhaps chosen with some awareness of light or shelter from prevailing weather. The Iveragh Peninsula, of which this corner of Kerry forms a part, is unusually rich in such survivals. The terrain, the tradition of pastoral farming rather than intensive tillage, and the relative remoteness of certain townlands have all helped preserve traces that elsewhere were long ago cleared or built over. A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan documented this particular site as part of their thorough archaeological survey of South Kerry, published by Cork University Press in 1996, which catalogued the extraordinary density of prehistoric and early historic remains across the peninsula.

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