Hut site, Point (Dunkineely Ed), Co. Donegal
Tucked away on a karst ridge in Dunkineely, County Donegal, the remnants of an ancient settlement offer a glimpse into Ireland's distant past.
Hut site, Point (Dunkineely Ed), Co. Donegal
The site features the wall footings of what appears to have been a small, irregularly shaped hut, measuring roughly three metres across. This modest dwelling sits just 15 metres southwest of a more substantial house site, suggesting this was once part of a larger community that called this limestone ridge home.
The positioning of these structures wasn’t random; building atop the karst ridge would have provided natural drainage and a strategic vantage point over the surrounding landscape. The presence of a field system near the larger house indicates these weren’t temporary shelters but rather permanent homesteads where families lived, worked the land, and raised livestock. The smaller hut might have served as an outbuilding, perhaps for storage or housing animals, or it could have been home to extended family members or workers.
While the exact age of these ruins remains uncertain, similar sites across Ireland date from the Bronze Age through to medieval times, representing centuries of continuous habitation and agricultural practice. Today, only the stone footings remain visible, weathered by centuries of Donegal’s Atlantic storms, yet they still mark out the boundaries of lives once lived on this windswept ridge.





