Hut site, Coorleagh, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Coorleagh, Co. Kerry

On the southern bank of the Coomeelan stream in Coorleagh, a low grassy bank curves through rough pasture in a shape that is almost, but not quite, a circle.

The flat side that completes the D is not built at all; it is simply the exposed face of a rock outcrop, incorporated into the structure as a ready-made wall. This small economy of effort, a builder working with the landscape rather than against it, is one of the more quietly interesting things about this otherwise modest site.

What survives is a hut site, the archaeological term for the ground-level remains of a simple dwelling or shelter, typically dating to early medieval Ireland though the form was used across a broad span of prehistory. The structure measures 3.6 metres east to west, with the curving bank running to a height of around 0.65 metres and a width of 0.7 metres. That bank is composed of earth and stone, and close inspection reveals traces of stone facing along both its inner and outer surfaces, suggesting a degree of deliberate construction rather than mere field clearance. The straight western side, formed by that natural rock face, runs 4.2 metres north to south. A second hut site lies roughly 25 metres to the north-west, which raises the possibility that this was never a solitary shelter but part of a small cluster of occupation, the kind of loose grouping associated with seasonal farming or transhumance, the practice of moving livestock to upland grazing in summer months.

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Pete F
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