Hut site, Alohart, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Alohart, Co. Kerry

On the north-facing slopes of the Macgillycuddy's Reeks, where the ground rises into rough upland pasture, a small oval enclosure sits on the edge of a natural terrace.

It is easy to overlook: only about five metres across at its widest point, its southern and western arc formed partly by a collapsing drystone wall and partly by the bare vertical face of outcropping rock. The wall, no more than sixty centimetres thick and just over a metre high where it still stands, narrows as it rises, suggesting a structure that was always modest in scale. The entrance, collapsed now, faced east.

This kind of upland hut site is a recurring feature of Kerry's mountain landscape, though rarely visited or remarked upon. Drystone construction, in which stones are laid without mortar and rely on their own weight and careful placement for stability, was the standard technique for small shelters of this kind across many centuries of Irish rural life. Whether the structure served as a seasonal dwelling for herders moving cattle to higher summer pastures, a shelter for those working the land, or something else entirely, the notes do not say. What is clear is that whoever built it made deliberate use of the natural rock face, incorporating it into the southern wall rather than building around it, which would have saved considerable labour. Roughly eight metres to the south, a second hut site survives in a similar condition, suggesting this was not a solitary outpost but part of a small cluster of activity on this exposed hillside.

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Pete F
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