Hut site, Spunkane, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Spunkane, Co. Kerry

In a field somewhere in Spunkane, on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, the ground holds what may be the remains of a very small circular building.

The possible foundations measure just four metres across in overall diameter, and they sit in the south-western quadrant of whatever larger arrangement once occupied this patch of land. That modest footprint is worth pausing over: a circular hut of this scale would have been a tight, functional space, probably roofed with thatch or turf over a timber or wattle frame, built for shelter rather than permanence.

The Iveragh Peninsula has long been understood to contain a dense and varied archaeological landscape, and circular hut sites of this kind are a recurring feature of the Irish countryside, ranging in date from the prehistoric period through to early medieval times. Without more detailed excavation or dating evidence, it is difficult to place this particular example with any confidence in a specific period. What can be said is that the site was recorded as part of a systematic survey of south Kerry, published in 1996, which catalogued hundreds of such features across the peninsula.

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Pete F
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