Hut site, Tuar An Chladáin, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Settlement Sites
On the steep southern slopes of Coomacarrea, a mountain on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, a small corbelled hut sits on a natural terrace overlooking the Inny river valley.
Corbelled construction, in which flat stones are laid in overlapping horizontal courses that gradually close in to form a roof without mortar, is an ancient technique found at sites across Ireland, from prehistoric tombs to early medieval clocháns used by monks and hermits. What makes this particular structure quietly interesting is what happened to it afterwards: at some point it was repurposed as a sheepfold, a practical reuse that says something about how people in this landscape related to the old buildings around them, neither demolishing nor preserving them, but simply putting them back to work.
A short distance to the west, close to a stream, lie the foundations of a rectangular hut measuring six metres by two point eight metres, with a well-defined entrance on the north-east side. Three annexes are attached to the hut at the same north-east corner, suggesting the structure was expanded or adapted over time, perhaps to accommodate animals, equipment, or additional occupants. The two huts together form what looks like a small seasonal settlement, the kind associated with transhumance, the practice of moving livestock to upland pastures in summer, which was common across Ireland and remained in use on the Iveragh Peninsula into relatively recent centuries. Whether these particular structures date to the early medieval period or later is difficult to say with certainty, but their placement on a south-facing terrace above a river valley follows a logic that would have been familiar across many generations.