Hut site, Crossterry, Co. Cork

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Crossterry, Co. Cork

Three small circular structures sit within a few metres of one another on a boggy terrace in Crossterry, tucked into a north-east-facing hollow that offers some shelter from the prevailing weather.

The one described here is the middle of the group, a hut site roughly 4.8 metres across, its perimeter wall still standing to about 0.7 metres in height and a metre thick. That wall is constructed from contiguous upright slabs, set in an inner and outer row along part of the circuit, with a lower earthen bank making up the rest. The level interior, presumably once a living or working floor, is now partly covered by rushes.

Hut sites of this kind are among the more common yet least-understood monuments in the Irish countryside. The term covers a wide range of structures, from seasonal shelters used by herders moving livestock to upland grazing, to more permanent small dwellings, and dating them without excavation is notoriously difficult. The use of upright slabs set side by side is a construction technique found across Cork and Kerry, and the fact that three such structures cluster within sixteen metres of one another at Crossterry suggests this was not an isolated or accidental occupation. Whether they were in use simultaneously, or represent successive episodes of activity at the same sheltered spot, is impossible to say from surface remains alone. The boggy, rough pasture that now surrounds them has likely preserved the low walls that elsewhere have been robbed out or simply collapsed.

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