Hut site, Coolroe, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Coolroe, Co. Kerry

On the lower northern slopes of Knockroe in County Kerry, a low mound of sod and tumbled stone sits quietly beside the Glasheencorgoad stream.

What makes it worth a second look is not its modest height, barely 0.7 metres above the surrounding ground, but what lies beneath: somewhere inside the collapsed remains of this subcircular drystone hut, an opening leads down into a souterrain. A souterrain is an underground stone-lined passage or chamber, typically associated with early medieval settlement in Ireland, and often used for storage or refuge. When the site was surveyed, flooding had made it impossible to enter, so whatever the passage contains below remains unseen.

The hut itself measures roughly 5.5 metres in diameter with walls about 2.4 metres thick, built in the drystone manner, meaning stone laid without mortar, relying on careful fitting and weight for stability. The entrance, if that is indeed what it is, lies in the disturbed southeastern sector, and a scatter of displaced roofing lintels on the ground surface suggests the structure was once properly roofed. The whole thing is now buried under accumulating sod, giving it the appearance of a grassy mound rather than anything obviously architectural. A possible identification connects it to a place name recorded by Ó Cíobháin in 1978 as Lios Cúláin, a lios being a term for an enclosed or fortified settlement, though the connection remains tentative.

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Pete F
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