The Burren, about 500 square kilometres of lunar-like landscape is surely one of the wonders of the world. Skirting Galway Bay on the north and the Atlantic on the west , it extends from north Clare to the Gort Plain in south Co.Galway. Its apparent barrenness nurtures an internationally famous flora. Limestone, that most alive of pavements, is the key.
When Stone Age farmers settled in the Burren, they found it forested. By late medieval times the felling of the timber and grazing of the cattle produced todays skeletal landscape. Wherever even an inch of soil remains on the seemingly bare limestone there is an abundant diversity of flowers and plants, never planted by man. Many of these are a botanist's dream. Amongst the more exotic and unexpected is the Mountain Avens, whose main habitat is northern Scandinavia and the Spring Gentian whose natural home is on the slopes of the Alps. A near neighbour is the Maidenhair Fern, a stranger from the Mediterranean, cosily nurtured in the sparse damp soil in the warm shelter of the fissures.
Most of the Burren has changed but little for a thousand years. Beginning with the early settlers and encouraged by our temperate climate and influenced by the Gulf Stream and natural drainage, farmers adopted a unique system of farming. It is called Winterage. For the Summer and Autumn months cattle are taken off and put in the lowlands. In winter and Spring they are put back on. No chemical fertiliser is used; this system is the reverse of what happens in any other part of the world, and is mainly responsible for the abundance and diversity of species - rare and otherwise. The shallower the soil the greater the treasury. 

                                 ARCHAEOLOGY & HISTORY

Man has left a mass of evidence of having lived in the Burren for 1000's of years. Material remains abound, including megalithic tombs, stone and earthen ringforts, round towers, medieval churches, monasteries and scores of castles and tower houses from the 14th to the 17th centuries. Let's take one example. From Lemenagh Castle to Ballyvaughan - a distance of 17kms there is a visible history of settlement from the 17th century back to the Stone Age - all of 6000 years ago. It is a striking and awesome memorial to centuries long past. Burials took place in Poulnabrone Dolmen over a period of 600 years, from 5200 to 5800 years ago. It stands sturdily today where Stone Age farmers anchored its legs in the fissures. A few kms away the late Paddy Nolan found glistening in a crevice the Gleninsheen Gold Collar. Dated from nearly 3000 years ago it is a priceless treasure from the Bronze Age and is now kept in our National Museum. A replica of the collar is in the Burren Display Centre, Kilfenora.
There is striking evidence today that our farmers were active, industrious and ingenious hundreds of years ago. They criss-crossed the landscape with wide scenic roads to enable cattle to be driven from A to B. " They were made before the wheel was invented " as a Burren farmer once said to me. They are now known as " Green Roads ". Although otherwise obsolete, they are priceless arteries for walkers. Every step of the way there is a rare flower, be it the Bee Orchid or Fly Orchid, a Celtic settlement or a Bronze Age cooking place. If the ocean or Galway Bay are not always visible, the bracing air of the Atlantic replenishes the spirit.
Gaelic Chieftains like the O'Briens and O'Connors built their Tower Houses in imitation of the Normans. Likewise the O'Lochlens, who were Princes of the Burren had their Castles here. One at least, Gleninagh Castle was lived in until the middle of the 19th century.

In summary, come here to get a rich and enduring sense of civilisations long gone. It is an unspoilt region for browsing, discovery, wonder and exploration. It is also a place for fun and leisure. Co. Clare in general is accepted as the richest repository of traditional music, song and dance in Ireland. Whilst every town and village in the Burren is a part of this cultural storehouse, Doolin and Kilfenora are known far and wide. The area has something for everyone. Insights into prehistory, a rock garden of wild flowers on hedge rows and Green Roads, exhilarating walks and beaches, hotels, guesthouses and restaurants. A bonus is the magnificent scenery from the Cliffs of Moher to Mullaghmore, Corker Hill to Corkscrew Hill, Fanore to Poulaphuca and from Ballyreen to Lough Bunny.

There are as many secret, sacred and favourite places in the Burren as there are people who come here.


                                                                                     Christy Browne