Hut site, Deelis, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Deelis, Co. Kerry

On the north-west-facing slopes of Deelis Mountain in south-west Kerry, a small rectangular structure sits in rough pasture, its walls long since collapsed into grass-covered rubble.

What makes it quietly arresting is not its size, which is modest, roughly 5.25 metres along its north-east to south-west axis and only 1.4 metres across, but the way it was built. Three sides are formed by drystone walling, the kind of dry-laid construction that uses no mortar, relying entirely on the careful fitting of stone upon stone. The fourth side, to the south-east, is simply the vertical face of natural outcropping rock, pressed into service as a ready-made wall. The entrance, a narrow gap of about 0.65 metres, opens at the north-west corner, and loose rubble has been spilling downslope from it for what may be a very long time.

This is not an isolated feature. Another hut site lies approximately six metres to the south-west, and two further examples sit around fifty metres to the south-east. The cluster suggests that whatever activity brought people to these slopes, it was sustained enough to require several structures in reasonable proximity to one another. Hut sites of this kind are found across upland Kerry and were typically associated with seasonal or transient occupation, perhaps connected to farming, herding, or other forms of land use that drew people temporarily away from permanent settlements. The drystone walls here, though partially collapsed and grass-covered and now standing to a height of only around 0.8 metres, would originally have formed the lower courses of a more substantial enclosure, likely topped with turf, timber, or other organic material that has long since disappeared.

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Pete F
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