Also known as the Fahan Beehive Huts, Caher Conor (Cathair na gConchuireach) is located on the south side of Mount Eagle west of Dingle. The complex consists of five structures.
The clochan (beehive huts) in Caher Conor were probably single family dwellings and were attached to each other with a doorway leading from one to the other. They were built in the form of a circle of successive strata of stone, each stratumlying a little closer to the center than the one beneath and so on up to a small aperture at the top that could be closaed with a single small flagstone or capstone. No mortar was used in building, which is called corbelling.
The hillside at one time had over 400 of these drystone, corbelled huts surviving, prompting one antiquarian in the 19th century to refer to the area as the "City of Fahan". Dating the huts is difficult because the skill of corbelling has been used in Newgrange (3100 B.C.) and as recently as the 1950s. The huts at Fahan along the Slea Head Drive may well date to the 12th Century when the incoming Normans forced the Irish off the good land and out to the periphery of the Dingle Peninsula.
About Caher Conor (Cathair na gConchuireach)
Megalithic Portal: Caher Conor (Cathair na gConchuireach)
Megalithic Ireland: Caher Conor
Wikipedia: Clochan
Journey to Caher Conor (Cathair na gConchuireach)
Caher Conor (Fahan Beehive Huts) is located on the southern slopes of Mount Eagle overlooking Dingle Bay near the townlands of Glanfahan and Fahan located west of Dingle on the R559 (Slea Head Drive) between Ventry and Slea Head on the Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland.
Map Reference: V3296
Visitors Information
Visitors information may be found on the geograph.ie website. Caher Conor is run privately, and there is a small charge to visit. General tourist information for the Dingle Peninsula may be found on the Dingle Peninsula Visitors Guide website.
Photos of Caher Conor (Cathair na gConchuireach)
Road Sign for Caher Conor
Entrance to Caher Conor
Clochan with Section of Roof Missing in Caher Conor
Another View of Clochan with Section of Roof Missing in Caher Conor
Intact Clochan in Caher Conor
Another View of Intact Clochan in Caher Conor
Interior of Intact Clochan in Caher Conor
Roofless Clochan in Caher Conor
Pathways in Caher Conor
Ruin of Clochan and Wall at Caher Conor
Storage Recess in Wall at Caher Conor
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