Hut site, Rossacroo, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Hut site, Rossacroo, Co. Kerry

On a north-west-facing slope in Rossacroo, County Kerry, a small oval hollow in the hillside is all that remains of what was once a roofed dwelling.

It is easy to miss: the collapsed drystone wall that once defined the structure now sits barely three-quarters of a metre high, softened further by a covering of moss and ferns, while rough heather-covered pasture closes in around it. The hut itself was modest, measuring roughly three metres along its north-east to south-west axis and two and a half metres across. What makes it quietly interesting is the care taken in its construction: the interior was cut approximately seventy centimetres into the upslope on the southern side, effectively levelling the floor against the natural gradient of the hill. That kind of deliberate terracing suggests a builder who knew the ground and planned accordingly, even if the structure itself was simple.

Drystone huts of this type, built without mortar from whatever stone lay nearby, appear across the upland landscapes of Kerry and were used for a range of purposes over many centuries, from seasonal shelter for those tending livestock on higher ground to more permanent habitation during periods of rural pressure on land. The Rossacroo example sits within a landscape of Sliabh Luachra, the upland area straddling the Kerry and Cork border long associated with a distinct Gaelic cultural tradition, particularly in music. A second hut site lies roughly fourteen metres to the north, which raises the possibility that these two structures were in use at the same time, though without excavation it is impossible to say anything definitive about their date or relationship to one another. The rubble-covered interior of the surviving hut offers no obvious surface finds, and the site as a whole has the appearance of something that simply wound down and was quietly absorbed back into the hillside.

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Pete F
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