What is recorded here

Inishtooskert, the northernmost of the Blasket island group, lies four miles off the Dingle Peninsula and holds a circular drystone hut with walls thick enough to bury a person inside. Its floor sits a metre and a half below the ground, and its narrow eastern doorway opens into a sunken courtyard walled in against the Atlantic wind. The north half of the island shows no trace of settlement, but this small southern chamber still stands where the land rises toward rocky heights. It may have belonged to the Early Christian community named after St. Brendan, yet its true purpose remains hidden beneath collapsed steps and sea-worn stone.

Inishtooskert, the northernmost of the Blasket island group, lies 4 miles off the W extremity of the Dingle Peninsula and 2.5 miles N of the Great Blasket. An area of 241 acres is bounded on all sides by sea-cliffs, and the land slopes upwards in a NW direction, from under 100 feet (30m) OD along the SE side to a maximum altitude of 573 feet (175m) roughly midway along the NW side of the island. The land is generally rocky with a thin soil cover and the N half of the island is devoid of any trace of settlement activity. Part of the S half of the island is occupied by a small field system, and it is within this that the Early Christian settlement, named after St. Brendan, is located. (7) (KE051-001011-) A circular drystone-built hut measuring 4m in diameter and 2.83m in height internally. The wall is 1.5 to 3.3m thick and is corbelled inwards towards the 3 slabs that form the roof. The floor lies 1.5m below the external ground level, and the lintelled doorway at E, .86m wide x 1.04m high x 1.9m long, opens onto a similarly sunken courtyard. This latter measures 3.64m E-W x 1.9m N-S and is defined by drystone walling up to 1.5m high. There were probably steps in the E wall but these are now obscured by collapse. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 844. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 8 August 2013

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