The Beginish house is a stone house and

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

associated with the

Viking period The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

, located in

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Location

The Beginish house is located in Canroe (''An Ceann Rua'', "the red headland"), on the eastern part of

Beginish Island Beginish () is an island in Valentia Harbour, in south west Kerry Kerry, Ireland. Geography Dominating the northern skyline is Doulus Head and Killelan mountain, with Valentia island to the south and Ballycarbery to the east. The north west ...

, an island in Valentia Harbour.

History

The settlement at Beginish was inhabited by

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

s between the 9th and 12th centuries AD.

Description

8 stone houses were associated with field systems, 8

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

s and 15 animal shelters. A runic inscription was found used as

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...

for a house, and a bone pin and

comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...

were found.

References

Buildings and structures in County Kerry Tourist attractions in County Kerry National monuments in County Kerry {{Ireland-struct-stub