Hut site, Deelis, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Deelis, Co. Kerry

On a north-west-facing slope of Deelis Mountain in south-west Kerry, the rock itself becomes part of the architecture.

A small rectangular hut site survives here, its walls largely fallen, but what makes it worth a second look is the way its builders worked with the terrain rather than against it: where a drystone wall, a type of construction using stones laid without mortar, would have been needed on three sides, the fourth side is formed by the natural face of outcropping rock. The structure measures roughly 2.55 metres along its north-west to south-east axis and 1.6 metres across, which gives a sense of just how compact and purposeful a shelter this would have been.

The surviving wall stands only around 0.2 metres high now, though it was originally thicker, at around 0.6 metres. A boulder has been incorporated into the south-east wall, and a gap on the north-west side is thought to mark where the entrance once was. On its own, a single hut of this scale might suggest a temporary shelter, perhaps for a herdsman working the upland pasture, or a small seasonal dwelling. But this site does not sit in isolation. Another hut site lies only about 8 metres to the west, and two further examples are clustered roughly 50 metres to the north-west. That loose grouping hints at something more organised, a small community of use, even if the date and precise function of any of the structures remains uncertain.

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Pete F
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