Less than 500 meters from Fort Dunbeg, you’ll find The Beehive huts (Clochán Fahan in Gaelic ), a group of buildings dating back to Ireland’s first Christians. Located on the Dingle Peninsula, they are considered a first-rate archaeological site, with dry-stone huts, menhirs, carved crosses and the ruins of ancient forts and a medieval church… This magnificent site, built by hermit monks, has since become one of the region’s most popular attractions!
A Fahan hut (The beehive huts) – Dirk Huth – cc
Built on the green hills of Kerry, which plunge into the ocean, lies a place thousands of years old, steeped in a history yet to be fully discovered. The “Beehive huts” are conical, beehive-like huts made of dry stone.
On this magnificent site, overlooking the ocean, you’ll find circular forts, with huts of all ages at their center. The oldest are over 1,400 years old, dating back to the Neolithic period. They were then home to a local community, living off the region’s resources. It was here that men and women lived, close to the protection of Dunbeg Fort, a prehistoric fort located 500 meters away.
But some huts are also more recent, dating back to the 12th century. Built on the same model as the older huts, they were home to farmers who had been driven out by the Norman invaders who had come to colonize Ireland. Condemned to live on the Dingle Peninsula, these farmers built a few huts to provide makeshift shelter for their families.
It is estimated that over 460 huts were built on the site (although few remains remain today). They range in size from 1.2 metres to 6 metres in diameter. For the most part, they have the same architecture as those found on the island of Skellig Michael. Few of the huts that have survived to the present day still have their roofs… but it is estimated that they were made of dry stone, corbelled together.
If you’re keen to visit Beehive Huts, then it’s important to know that the place is now reduced to a tiny fraction of what it once was. Blame it on the climate and centuries of experience that have finally got the better of these structures.
Nevertheless, the site is well worth a visit. Here you’ll find a sort of circular stone enclosure, within which are the remains of the foundations of these huts. Only three huts are still standing, but without roofs.
You’ll have to wander around to find huts still intact with their roofs.
Be that as it may, the Beehive huts overlook the ocean magnificently, giving the impression of being at the end of the world.
The only drawback is that the explanatory panels are sometimes a little light: insufficient explanations and documentation too light for our taste.
Nevertheless, take time to admire the architecture of the site, the way the stones have been set against each other. This gives you a vibrant insight into rural Irish life in prehistoric and medieval times.
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