Hut site, Grousemount, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Grousemount, Co. Kerry

Two low walls of dry-stone construction, barely half a metre tall and almost entirely swallowed by rush growth, are all that remain of what was probably a small rectangular hut on the uplands above Kilgarvan in south Kerry.

The structure is modest even by the standards of vernacular building: the southern wall runs to just three metres, the northern wall slightly shorter at 2.4 metres, and the whole enclosure would have covered an internal floor area of roughly three metres by two. That is a space not much larger than a generous double bed, suggesting a seasonal shelter, a shepherd's refuge, or some other temporary occupation rather than a permanent dwelling.

The site came to light during a pre-development survey carried out by John Cronin and Associates ahead of a wind farm project in the Grousemount area by ESB Wind Development Ltd. Working under licence, the survey team identified the remains as a probable rectangular hut defined by two parallel walls aligned roughly west-southwest to east-northeast. The northern wall curves inward slightly at its western end, which may represent the fragmentary remains of an end wall; the eastern end has no surviving masonry at all. The walls themselves average 0.65 metres in width, built in the dry-stone manner, meaning without mortar, a technique common across Kerry's uplands for centuries. The site sits close to at least two other recorded monuments in the same area, hinting that this patch of ground saw repeated or prolonged use across time. No date has been assigned to the structure, and without excavation the period of its construction and use remains an open question.

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Pete F
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