Hut site, Lecarrow, Co. Mayo

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Lecarrow, Co. Mayo

At the base of a boulder-strewn hillock near Leck, in the west of County Mayo, a small and largely forgotten structure sits with its back to the slope and its face towards the basin of Lough na bPoll.

What catches the attention is the wall on its uphill side: a run of large conglomerate flagstones, set upright and close together, rising to just over a metre in height and nearly as wide. It reads almost like a megalith, the kind of stonework that tends to draw comparisons with far older monuments, yet here it appears to have served the more practical purpose of sheltering a modest living space from whatever came down off the hill.

The structure is described as a possible hut site of subrectangular plan, measuring roughly 3.2 metres on its longer axis and 2.55 metres across internally, dimensions that suggest something functional rather than ceremonial. A hut site of this kind would typically have housed a person or small group engaged in seasonal work on the land or hillside, though no precise date has been established for this particular example. The impressive upslope wall of set flagstones gives way on the downhill side to a series of flat slabs rising only about 0.3 metres, enough to mark the boundary without providing the same degree of shelter. No clear entrance survives, though a gap of roughly half a metre on the eastern side may indicate where one once existed. The structure sits just three metres from the remains of a later house, and is also associated with a scatter of ruined walls nearby, suggesting this corner of the hillside saw more sustained occupation or activity than its present quiet appearance might suggest.

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Pete F
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