Aclochán (pluralclocháin) orbeehive hut is adry-stone hut with acorbelled roof, commonly associated with the south-western Irish seaboard. The precise construction date of most of these structures is unknown with the buildings belonging to a long-established Celtic tradition, though there is at present no direct evidence to date the surviving examples beforec. 700 CE.[1] Some associated with religious sites may bepre-Romanesque, some consider that the most fully intact structures date after the 12th century or later.[2][3] It is where monks lived.
They are most commonly round beehive huts, but rectangular plans are known as well. It has been suggested that the rectangular footprints date to a later era. Someclocháin are not completely built of stone and may have possessed a thatched roof.[1] The walls are very thick, up to 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in). Sometimes severalclocháin are joined by their walls.[3]
Clocháin are mainly found in the Southwest ofIreland, for example atSkellig Michael, Church Island offBeginish Island,Glanfahan,Fahan andReask in theDingle Peninsula ofCounty Kerry. Many occur in religious contexts such as used by the monks followingSaint Patrick; moreover, his successors carried on the architectural tradition in the Scottish island ofIona and eventually viaAidan to the eastern English islands ofFarne andHoly Island.
There are others inringforts (such asLeacanabuaile,County Kerry) that are commonly interpreted as secular dwellings. Elaborate dry walled stone churches like theGallarus Oratory may derive from theclochán. Theclochán has been described in the 7th to 8th-centurylaw Críth Gablach.[1] Beehive huts are also found inWest Penwith, Cornwall.[4][5]
Parts of the 2017 filmStar Wars: The Last Jedi were filmed using the beehive huts on the island ofSkellig Michael.[6][7] Because of the restrictions regarding filming on the island, a set of replica beehive huts were also built in 2016 atCeann Sibéal, nearBallyferriter, on theDingle Peninsula.[8][9]
The ancient Jedi shelter where Luke Skywalker resides is a very terrestrial building type called aclochán, a primitive stone dwelling that can still be found on Skellig Michael. These structures, also called beehive huts, were built by the ascetic Christian monks who first settled the island in the 6th or 7th century.
A collection of beehive-shaped huts was built to reproduce the beehive huts of Skellig Micheal. Construction workers built a road across local farmland to bring the trucks, scaffolding, lighting, trailers, food, props and people up to the closed set. Lucasfilm later thanked locals for their support and hospitality.
