Hut site, Rossacoosane, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Rossacoosane, Co. Kerry

On a west-facing slope above Kenmare Bay, largely swallowed by gorse and dense moorgrass, a low ring of stone just barely announces itself above the surface of the bog.

It is easy to miss, and that is part of what makes it worth knowing about.

The remains form a rough circle, roughly nine metres north to south and eight and a half metres east to west, defined by a drystone wall, that is, a wall built without mortar, relying entirely on the careful fitting of stone against stone. That wall has largely collapsed, leaving a spread of rubble no more than about sixty centimetres high, with the base of the structure protruding just above the bog surface. The bog itself has been slowly absorbing the site for an unknown length of time, preserving the footprint even as it obscures it. The terrace on which the hut sits faces west, opening onto views down into a valley and south across Kenmare Bay, which suggests whoever built and used it had a working interest in the surrounding landscape, whether for grazing, watching livestock, or simply occupying a viable patch of level ground on an otherwise steep hillside. Hut sites of this kind, circular and drystone-built, are found throughout upland Kerry and are associated with various periods of rural activity, though without excavation it is rarely possible to date a site like this with any precision.

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Pete F
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