Hut site, Pinnacle, Co. Wicklow
Co. Wicklow |
Settlement Sites
On a steep south-facing slope near the Pinnacle in County Wicklow, the remains of a small circular stone dwelling sit on a slight natural terrace just a couple of metres above a track, half-swallowed by furze.
It is the kind of structure that rewards a slow eye: easy to walk past, easy to dismiss as a scatter of field stones, but on closer inspection a coherent form emerges from the vegetation.
The hut is roughly circular, with an internal diameter of 3.5 metres, and walls that survive to a width of between 0.8 and 1 metre. On the western side, a continuous 2-metre stretch of upright stone flags still lines the inner face, rising between 0.2 and 0.4 metres above ground level, a small but telling detail that suggests the original wall was built with some care. The southern wall has largely gone, but one taller facing stone, standing about half a metre high, may mark the western side of the original doorway jamb. A second hut site of the same broad type lies approximately 23 metres to the north-east, which raises the possibility that this was never a solitary habitation but part of a small cluster. Hut sites of this kind are generally associated with seasonal or temporary occupation, used by those pasturing animals on higher ground, though the exact date and function of this particular example are not recorded.