Hut site, Derrygarrane, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Settlement Sites
On the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, a rough circle of stone slabs sits within a larger enclosure at Derrygarrane, marking what may once have been a small dwelling.
The internal dimensions, 3.5 metres by 3.3 metres, give a sense of just how compact the space would have been: roughly the footprint of a modest modern bathroom, enclosed by upright or laid slabs and likely roofed with organic material long since vanished. That such a slight trace has survived at all is what makes it quietly remarkable.
The site was documented by archaeologists Aidan O'Sullivan and Jerry Sheehan as part of their comprehensive survey of South Kerry, published by Cork University Press in 1996. The hut lies within an enclosure, a term that in early Irish archaeology typically refers to a defined area bounded by a bank, wall, or ditch, which may have served a domestic, agricultural, or ritual purpose depending on the period and context. The combination of an outer enclosure and an interior hut structure is a pattern seen across early medieval Ireland, often associated with small farmsteads or seasonal occupation sites, though the available evidence at Derrygarrane does not allow for a confident date or function to be assigned.