Hut site

The National Monuments Service's description

Rectangular hut-site aligned NW-SE and a roughly rectangular adjoining enclosure (ext. dims. 4.9m x 5.2m; int. dims. 4m x 4.6m), constructed on a platform partly cut out from a steep facing slope on the W side of Pigeon Rock Glen. Pigeonrock River 100m to E which marks townland boundary with Carrigeen Mountain. Listed as Knocknascrow 3 (Costello 2016, 307). Present remains consist of a rectangular-shaped area (ext. dims. 5.2m x 2.6m; int. dims. 4.6m x 2m) enclosed by a well built coursed earth and stone wall (avg. H 0.7m; avg. T 0.6m) with no entrance visible. A low, grass-covered wall of which only the foundation stones survive, runs W from the SW corner of the hut, enclosing the rest of the slope-cut platform. Ten cultivation ridges run downslope from the site, occupying a patch 25m long and 15m wide (Costello 2020, Fig. 5.11). To the W, at a distance of just under 60m, is a man-made dam or bridge on a fast-flowing tributary stream. To the S, on the other side of that stream, is a grassy slope that appears to have been cleared of stones for the purposes of improving the grazing and making the ground safer for cattle (Costello 2016, 93).

See attached photographs courtesy of Dr. Eugene Costello

Compiled by: Dr Eugene Costello

Date of upload: 25 August 2020

References

Costello, E. 2016 Seasonal settlement and the interpretation of upland archaeology in the Galtee Mountains, Ireland. Landscape History 37(1), 87-98.

Costello, E. 2020 Transhumance and the Making of Ireland’s Uplands, 1550-1900. Woodbridge. Boydell.

Costello, E. 2016 Upland transhumance practices in Ireland, and their role in post-medieval settlement and society, c.1550-1900 AD. Unpublished doctoral thesis, NUI Galway.