Hut site, Mangerton, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Mangerton, Co. Kerry

On the southern slope of Mangerton Mountain in County Kerry, a small circle of collapsed stone sits on a terrace cut into the rough hill pasture.

The remains measure just three metres across, defined by a drystone wall, a type of construction using no mortar, relying entirely on the careful fitting of stones together, that has long since fallen to a height of barely twenty centimetres. The interior of the hut tilts gently downward toward the south, and loose stones have spilled further down the slope outside the wall line, the slow drift of a structure that has been dissolving into the hillside for a very long time.

What makes this small ruin particularly interesting is that it does not stand alone. Immediately to the east, another hut site sits directly against it, the two sharing what was presumably a common wall or boundary. A further pair of conjoined hut sites, where two circular structures are built touching one another, lies just twenty-four metres to the northeast. This clustering suggests the remains of a small settlement rather than a single isolated shelter, a grouping of people or perhaps seasonal workers making use of the mountain's south-facing slope, which would have offered whatever warmth and shelter the Kerry uplands could provide. Such clusters are known from other parts of Ireland in connection with booley farming, the practice of moving livestock to higher ground in summer, though no specific dating or function has been recorded for this particular group.

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Pete F
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