Hut site, Cloghoge, Co. Wicklow
Co. Wicklow |
Settlement Sites
On a steep east-facing slope above Luggala Lake in the Wicklow Mountains, two ancient hut platforms sit side by side, cut into the hillside at a natural break in the gradient.
What makes the site quietly arresting is how deliberate and domestic it feels. These are not the remains of a fort or a ceremonial enclosure, but something closer to a home, or perhaps a seasonal shelter, positioned to catch the view down over the lake while remaining partly sheltered from the slope above.
The two hut sites are conjoined, meaning they share the same immediate ground and were almost certainly used together. The smaller of the pair is roughly circular, measuring about 8.6 metres east to west and 7 metres north to south, with a revetment, that is, a facing of stones and small boulders used to hold back the earth and stabilise the platform, running along the western side and continuing as a low bank around the north and south. An entrance survives at the southern side, marked by two boulders set apart to form a gap. The second hut, immediately to the northeast and set slightly downslope, is D-shaped and larger, running 13.5 metres north to south and 6.7 metres east to west. It too has a revetment of stones along the west, though this one is discontinuous, suggesting either partial collapse or a less formal construction. A level path approaches both from the south. The precise date of the site is not recorded, but hut platforms of this kind, carved into hillsides and lined with stone, appear throughout upland Ireland and are generally associated with early medieval or prehistoric settlement and pastoral activity.