Hut site, Crossterry, Co. Cork
Co. Cork |
Settlement Sites
Tucked into a gully on a rocky, boggy plateau in west Cork, a small collapsed hut sits in a state of quiet ruin, its walls reduced to little more than a tumble of stone.
The structure is sub-circular, a shape common to early Irish hut sites, and its interior measures just three metres on one axis and 2.2 metres on the other, barely enough space to shelter one or two people from the Atlantic weather that sweeps this part of the country.
The hut is positioned closer to the northern steep wall of the gully, a detail that likely reflects deliberate choice rather than accident. That placement would have offered some protection from wind and weather, while still opening the site up to views to the north-east over Glengarriff and the Caha Mountains, the dramatic upland spine that runs along the Cork and Kerry border. Whoever used this place, whether a seasonal herder moving livestock to higher ground, a solitary individual seeking isolation, or simply someone in need of rough shelter, chose the spot with some care. The surrounding plateau of rock and bog would have made this gully a relatively sheltered hollow in an otherwise exposed landscape.