Hut site, Kimego, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Kimego, Co. Kerry

On the south-western flank of Slievagh mountain in County Kerry, two small rectangular huts sit just two metres apart on the bank of a stream, their walls built without mortar from carefully stacked stone.

Drystone construction, which relies entirely on the weight and fit of individual stones rather than any binding material, was a technique used across many centuries in Ireland, and the simplicity of these structures makes them difficult to date with precision. What gives the site its quiet interest is the suggestion of a whole small world once organised around it: an old field system lies to the south, possibly laid out by the same people who sheltered in these huts, hinting at seasonal grazing or marginal upland farming of the kind once common across the Iveragh Peninsula.

The two huts are modest even by the standards of such remains. The southern hut has fared worse than its neighbour, with only its southern and western walls still standing. The western wall, built against a low artificial scarp that may have been cut to provide shelter or a foundation, survives to a height of just over half a metre and runs nearly two metres in length. The southern wall extends a little further, at just over two metres long. These measurements come from the archaeological survey of the Iveragh Peninsula compiled by A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan and published by Cork University Press in 1996, which systematically documented the extraordinary density of early remains across south Kerry. The Iveragh Peninsula, perhaps better known today for the Ring of Kerry, contains one of the highest concentrations of ancient field monuments in the country, and sites like this one represent the quieter, less visited end of that record.

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