Hut site

The National Monuments Service's description

Listed as Coolagarranroe 4 (Costello 2016, 98; Costello 2016, 313). A rectangular stone hut (ext. dims. 8.1m x 4.5m; int. dims. 6.4m x 2.8m; avg. wall H 0.6m; Wth 0.9m) aligned NW-SE, located in a steep-sided valley, with its W side wall built up against the slope. It has no obvious entrance, but one might have been located in the W end of the S end wall. There are masses of tumbled stone throughout the interior, and particularly in the N end. Nevertheless, one face of an internal dividing wall in the S of the building is discernible. The masonry of the building is coursed, with small to medium-sized and occasionally cut stones predominating. Externally, wall height and width is often obscured due to the amount of tumbled stone on the N and E of the hut. Some of this may also be upcast material from the levelling of a building surface and/or buttressing of the walls facing downslope. The foundation stones of a possible wall run downslope for approximately 6m from the centre of the E side wall. It may have formed part of a small enclosure because another, even less distinct wall can be made out running downslope from the S end of the building (Costello 2020, 122). There are several intersecting trackways running along the valley both upslope and downslope of this building.

See attached photographs courtesy of Dr. Eugene Costello

Compiled by: Dr Eugene Costello

Date of upload: 26 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 Unpublished doctoral thesis, NUI Galway.