Beehive Huts – A Clochán is a dry-stone hut with a corbelled roof, usually associated with the southwestern Irish seaboard. In Irish the name clochán, is given to these structures, derived from the word “cloch”, a stone, it reflects the fact that they’re constructed wholly from stone without the use of mortar. Clochans are mainly found in the Southwest of Ireland, in the Dingle Peninsula of County Kerry. Several occur in religious contexts such as those used by the monk’s successors carried on the architectural tradition in the Scottish Isle of Iona.
These are amazing huts built with each layer of stone inward just enough to close the top with a single stone to see how the natives of Ireland lived merely a few hundred years ago. These were some hearty folk who lived in these stone enclosures tending to their sheep and potatoes. This will completely understand why so many emigrated given the chance in the 19th Century.
According to archeologists the exact construction date of these structures is unidentified with any degree of conviction. No direct evidence to date any of these buildings before the 8th century. Whereas some connected with religious sites may be pre-Romanesque, considers most to date after the 12th century, including up to the 19th century.
These are usually round beehive huts and rectangular footprints dating to a later era, which are not completely built of stone, and may have possessed a thatched roof. The Clochan walls are very thick, up to 1.5 meters and sometimes more than a few are joined together by their walls. The building technique behind the clochán is an ancient one, which employs the principle of corbelling.
Therefore it is a simple but effective method of construction and has been used for many centuries, not only in Ireland but in other European countries too. In many countries, such huts were built as temporary shelters for nomadic shepherds as they moved around with their flocks.
