Hut site, Glantrasna, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Glantrasna, Co. Kerry

On a north-west-facing slope above the Glantrasna River in County Kerry, a circle of old stones barely two metres across sits in rough hill pasture.

It is easy to walk past without registering what it is: the lower courses of a drystone wall, perhaps half a metre thick and just over half a metre high, with larger boulders anchoring the southern and eastern arcs. The upper courses have long since collapsed, and the rubble has spilled inward and tumbled downslope to the north-west, giving the whole thing the look of an accidental scatter rather than a deliberate structure.

This is a hut site, the ground-level remnant of a small circular dwelling built without mortar, each stone resting on the next by weight and fit alone. Structures of this kind appear across Ireland in upland and marginal landscapes, often associated with seasonal grazing or early agricultural activity, though dating individual examples without excavation is notoriously difficult. What makes this particular spot quietly compelling is that it is not alone. Two further hut sites lie within thirty metres, one roughly to the west and another to the south-west, suggesting that whoever sheltered here was part of a small cluster of activity on this hillside, not an isolated figure. The three sites sit close enough together to imply some shared purpose, perhaps a temporary community making use of the hill pasture during summer months, a practice known in Irish tradition as booleying.

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Pete F
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