Irish sweathouse

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Tirkane Sweathouse

Irish sweathouses ( German  "Schwitzhäuser" ) are small, often beehive-shaped, ancient structures made of field stones with cantilever vaults . They have diameters and heights that are rarely more than two meters. The entrances are creepers. Most of those who survived could not accommodate more than three or four people. They resemble small "caves" built in walls, in which, according to reports, many Irish people even lived in the 17th century.

The first detailed account of Irish sweathouses came from Latocnayem, a man who did not speak Irish, in the late 18th century.

location

They are often located apart in more hidden places, far away from residential buildings and often also from paths, near small streams and / or in small forests or bushes. This distinguishes them from the lime kilns, which are also found in the central counties of Leitrim and Cavan and have a similar structure but smaller "entrances".

Sweathouses were carefully built, often with cantilever vaults, but sometimes with slab roofs. Some townlands had multiple sweathouses, and even today three out of four townlands have more than one intact or destroyed sweathouse.

use

They are mostly interpreted as saunas based on ethnographic comparisons . Some have crevices for the smoke or ventilation ducts. Where these were too big, they were stuffed with sod or mortar. They were often covered with pests . It is certain that they were fired because some systems had soot adhering to the ceilings . This distinguishes them from North American inipis , which were rarely, if ever, made of stone and heated by hot stones from a nearby fire.

distribution

The currently established distribution favors the poorer regions of central Ireland:

Cavan (Legeelan, Tullynafreave), Leitrim (Annagh upper, Cleighran More, Gubnaveagh) and County Roscommon (Ardmullen, Carrownrarriff, Cartonperagh, Cornageeha and Eskerbawn) - with "outliers" in Fermanagh (Scribanebagh), County Londonderry (Tirkarybagh) County (Doonane), Tyrone ( Sweathouse of Cadian ), County Sligo (Inishmurray) and Wicklow (Annacarney).

context

Widespread across Europe there are a large number of cantilever structures made of dry stone, such as the domed structures of the Hebrides , which are very similar to sweathouses. However, all other types have proper doors as opposed to the tiny entrances of Irish sweathouses.

literature

  • Raffaello Battaglia: Ricerche Paleontologiche e Folkloristiche Sulla Casa Istriana Primitiva. In: Atti e Memorie della Societa Istriana di Archeologia e Storia Patria. Vol. 38, No. 2, 1926, ISSN  0392-0321 , pp. 33-79.
  • Gerhard Rohlfs : Primitive domed buildings in Europe (= Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-Historical Class. Treatises. NF 43, ISSN  0005-710X ). Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1957.
  • Jürgen E. Walkowitz: The megalithic syndrome. European cult sites of the Stone Age (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Vol. 36). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jacques-Louis de La Tocnaye: A Frenchman's Walk Through Ireland. McCaw et al., Belfast et al. 1917, (Photolithographic facsimile: Blackstaff Press, Belfast 1984, ISBN 0-85640-308-3 ).
  2. ↑ so they have parallels to the burnt mound on

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