Hut site, Tuar Sáilín, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Settlement Sites
On the lower southern slopes of Coomacarrea, above the valley of the Owroe River, a small ring of tumbled stone sits on rough hill grazing.
It is barely over two metres across, its drystone walls reduced to a jumbled course less than half a metre high, rubble spilling both inward and outward. To walk past it without knowing what to look for, you almost certainly would.
What survives is the footprint of a circular hut site, a category of structure found at various points across Kerry's upland terrain, typically associated with seasonal pastoral activity or earlier periods of settlement. Drystone construction, built without mortar by stacking and wedging carefully chosen stones, was the standard technique for such simple shelters, and the remaining wall thickness of around 0.7 metres suggests it was once reasonably substantial despite its modest diameter. The site sits on the Tuar Sáilín townland, looking out over the Owroe River valley, which would have made it a practical vantage point for anyone keeping animals on the hill grazings. Beyond that, the historical record for this particular structure is quiet; no date, no associated finds, no named occupant.