Hut site, Coolnagoppoge, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Coolnagoppoge, Co. Kerry

In a level pasture in the valley of the Sheen River, a small stone structure sits partly collapsed but still legible in the landscape.

It is modest in scale, roughly three metres east to west and just under three metres north to south, yet its walls were carefully built. The technique is drystone construction, meaning no mortar was used; stones were fitted against one another with enough precision that, even partially fallen, the wall still stands to around one and a half metres in places and holds a thickness of about sixty centimetres. A narrow entrance, just half a metre wide, opens from the south corner of the east wall, an arrangement that would have offered some shelter from prevailing weather.

What makes the site quietly interesting is the evidence of a working landscape layered around it. Field-clearance rubble has been piled against the exterior walls on the north, south, and west sides, suggesting that at some point the structure was either repurposed or simply incorporated into the practical routines of farming, with stones gathered from nearby ground stacked against whatever was already standing. Whether the hut itself was a dwelling, a temporary shelter for those working the land, or something older is not certain, but that ambiguity is part of what makes these small vernacular structures worth attention. Roughly twenty metres to the south lies a second hut site, which raises the possibility that this was once a small cluster of buildings rather than an isolated feature.

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Pete F
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