Hut site, Erneen, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Erneen, Co. Kerry

On a north-facing slope above a river valley in south-west Kerry, a small D-shaped structure sits half-swallowed by bog, its drystone walls still protruding above the surface after what may be centuries of slow submersion.

The hut is modest in scale, roughly 2.1 metres across on its north-south axis, with a straight northern wall stretching 2.8 metres and a narrow entrance, less than a metre wide, facing north-east. Drystone construction, meaning walls built from dry-fitted stone with no mortar, is found across Ireland from the prehistoric period well into the early medieval era, and the low, radially set stones visible in the lower courses here suggest careful original construction rather than a purely makeshift shelter.

What makes this particular site quietly compelling is that it does not stand alone. A second hut site adjoins it to the west, an enclosure of some kind sits immediately to the north, and a relict field boundary, the ghost of an ancient property or cultivation line, terminates precisely at this cluster of remains. Together they suggest not a single isolated dwelling but a small working complex, perhaps a booley settlement used seasonally by farmers moving their cattle to higher ground in summer, or the remnant of a more permanent upland community. The fact that a field boundary ends here rather than continuing implies this cluster was once a meaningful edge or focal point in a wider landscape that has otherwise been largely erased.

The whole group lies in rough hill pasture in a sheltered hollow, which likely explains its survival. The bog that has risen around it has, paradoxically, preserved the walls it threatens to bury.

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Pete F
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