Hut site, Inchincoosh, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Inchincoosh, Co. Kerry

On a west-facing slope in the rough hill pasture of Inchincoosh in County Kerry, a small circular structure sits in a hollow, its drystone walls long since collapsed but still readable in the landscape.

The hut measures just 1.4 metres in diameter, which gives some sense of scale: this was not a dwelling in any comfortable modern sense, but something far more minimal, built for function rather than comfort.

What makes this particular structure quietly interesting is the care taken to level the interior despite the uneven ground. The builder cut roughly a metre into the eastern side of the hillside, while the western portion of the floor sits raised by about 0.7 metres, the two adjustments together producing something approaching a flat, usable space. A single large boulder was incorporated into the northern section of the wall, the kind of practical improvisation common in drystone construction, where the available stone dictates as much as the builder's intentions. The collapsed wall still stands to around a metre in places and is about 0.6 metres thick. Crucially, this hut does not sit alone. Two further hut sites lie nearby, one approximately 8 metres to the east and another around 60 metres to the west, suggesting a cluster of activity on this hillside rather than an isolated episode of occupation. Hut sites of this type are associated with seasonal or agricultural use, possibly connected to the practice of booleying, the transhumance tradition of moving livestock to upland grazing during summer months, though no specific date or period has been confirmed for this particular site.

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Pete F
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