Hut site, Teeromoyle, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Settlement Sites
On the Iveragh Peninsula in south Kerry, a circular drystone hut sits quietly at Teeromoyle, its walls still reaching nearly a metre in height after what may be centuries of exposure to Atlantic weather.
Drystone construction means exactly what it sounds like: no mortar, just carefully selected and fitted stone, relying on weight, friction, and the skill of whoever laid it to hold the whole thing together. That this one survives at all, to a wall thickness of 1.3 metres and a diameter of nearly eight metres, suggests it was built with some care.
The entrance, less than a metre wide, faces roughly east-south-east, a common orientation in early Irish vernacular structures, possibly for shelter from prevailing westerly winds or simply to catch the morning light. At the south side of the doorway stands a portal stone, and at the north a coursed jamb, meaning the stonework there was laid in deliberate horizontal courses rather than placed more loosely. Inside, collapsed stone across the eastern half of the interior may point to a wall or partition that once divided the space, though whether this separated sleeping from working areas, animals from people, or served some other purpose entirely is not something the stonework alone can answer.