What is recorded here
Half a kilometre of forgotten walls circles Letter West, hiding a small rectangular chamber beneath lintels and rubble. The Glenbeigh Horseshoe traps the sky on every side except the northeast gap, where boggy pasture spills toward Dingle Bay. Whoever built that chamber faced the opening like a door, leaving the rest in shadow.
A complex of hut sites extending 0.1km is situated in the townland of Letter West at an elevation of 260m on a ridge on the eastern slopes of Beenmore, by the source of the Behy River. An amphitheatre of hills forming part of the ‘Glenbeigh Horseshoe’ a circuit of hills extending from Seefin to Drung Hill surround the huts on all sides save at NE where there is extensive views along the boggy pasture towards Glenbeigh. Dingle Bay is beyond the gap between Drung Hill and the low hills of Drom West and Knockatinna. The foothills of Drung Hill block the view to the bay The hut sites at Kealduff Upper are 700m to SE and those on the slopes of Drung Hill
are 900m to NE while the main concentration of rock art in Letter West is to SE and E. The poorly preserved drystone enclosure is roughly circular in shape. Internally, it measures 4m N-S and 5m E-W. The walls are poorly preserved and due to the large amount of rubble and vegetation, the extent of the enclosure is not clear. Inside the walls of the enclosure, at NE, there is a rectangular drystone structure, 2m long, 1.2m wide and 0.8m high. It is roofed with lintels and hollow inside. Its interior is 1.4m long and 0.45m wide'.
Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on details provided by Aoibheann Lambe
Date of upload: 7 October 2022
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
- What survives
- Recorded monument
Places near here
Hut site in Letter WestHut site · 715 yd
BeenmoreMountain / peak · 1153 yd
Field boundary in Letter WestField boundary · 1264 yd
Mountain StageViewpoint · 1.5 mi
Gleensk Viaductbridge · 2.0 mi
O'Connell's Bridgebridge · 2.0 mi
FeaklecallyHeadland · 2.1 mi
Sheep Dog TrainingHeritage attraction · 2.4 mi
Soft Tree-fernSoft Tree-fern · 3.0 mi
Chilean wine palmChilean wine palm · 3.0 mi
Kells BeachBeach / strand · 3.3 mi