Hut site, Knocknascrow, Co. Limerick
Co. Limerick |
Settlement Sites
On the western side of Pigeon Rock Glen in County Limerick, a small rectangular structure sits on a platform partly carved from a steep hillside, its walls still standing to roughly knee height despite showing no obvious entrance.
That last detail is quietly puzzling. The coursed earth and stone wall, averaging 0.7 metres high and 0.6 metres thick, encloses an interior of just 4.6 by 2 metres, barely enough space for a bed and a fire. Whatever purpose it served, whoever built it was thorough: the platform itself was cut deliberately from the slope, the walling is well constructed, and a further low wall runs westward from the south-west corner to enclose the rest of the levelled ground.
The site is catalogued as Knocknascrow 3 in Dr Eugene Costello's research, which places it within a wider pattern of upland land use in the region. The Pigeonrock River runs roughly 100 metres to the east, marking the townland boundary with Carrigeen Mountain. Ten cultivation ridges, the kind of low parallel earthworks created by manual spade tillage, run downslope from the structure and cover a patch approximately 25 metres long and 15 metres wide. Someone once worked this ground as well as sheltered on it. About 60 metres to the west, a man-made dam or bridge crosses a fast-flowing tributary stream, suggesting the site was part of a more deliberate arrangement of the landscape than a casual glance might suggest. To the south of that same stream, a grassy slope appears to have been cleared of stones, likely to improve grazing and make the ground safer for cattle.
The site sits within Pigeon Rock Glen, a steep-sided valley that requires some effort to reach, and the surrounding terrain is rough upland ground. Visitors should expect uneven footing and the kind of conditions typical of Irish upland sites, where ground can be waterlogged regardless of season. The cultivation ridges running downslope from the hut are most legible in low, raking light, particularly in the early morning or late afternoon when shadows sharpen the subtle earthwork relief. The stone clearance slope to the south and the stream crossing to the west reward a short detour, giving a clearer sense of how interconnected the various elements of this small upland landscape once were.