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CONTENTS Introduction 2 Geology and Landscape 4 Geology Facts 6 Burren Archaeology 8 Historical Structures 10 Flora of the Burren 12 Fauna of the Burren 14 Agriculture and Land Use 16 Culture 18 Folklore 20 Towns and Villages 22 Festivals and Events 30 Visitor Centres 34 Monuments and Reserves 38 Activities 39 Art, Craft and Local Produce 42 Places to Eat and Drink 45 Recommended Reading 51 Burren Websites 55 Useful Contacts 59 Recycling/Bring Banks 62 Acknowledgements 64 Map of the Burren Inside back cover 1 weekend in Doolin, and the Ballyvaghan and Kinvara Christmas markets, INTRODUCTION the Burren is a place that is as beautiful and lively in winter as it is in spring, summer or autumn. The Burren has an extensive and varied selection of accommodation, including family-run bed and breakfasts where one can get a real taste of home cooking and inside information on the local culture and traditions of the area. Hotels, guest houses, self-catering accommodation, as well as quality hostels, caravan and camping sites ensure all types of traveller are catered for. The great variety of places to eat and drink, from traditional pub food The Burren - Land of the Fertile Rock to restaurants and cafés, over 20 visitor attractions, spectacular scenery, Fáilte go dtí An Bhoireann – Welcome to the Burren beautiful beaches, outdoor activities to suit all capabilities, as well as an abundance of archaeological and historical sites of interest, will ensure that Your Burren Passport will give you a taste of the history, local culture and your visit to the Burren is as action-packed or as relaxing as you choose. traditions in the Burren, as well as comprehensive listings on what to do, eat, We hope that this passport will help you enjoy your holiday more and drink and details of the many cultural festivals, events, live music sessions in also help to protect this special environment, as well as contribute to the the 20 towns and villages that make up this special karst region of North Clare economic and social development of the people and cultures of the Burren. and South Galway. Further information on the Burren can be obtained at nine dedicated From the traditional music events in spring and the Burren in Bloom Burren Information Points in the region, as highlighted in the Burren festival in May, to the Summer events like Cruinniú n mBád (the gathering of Passport map, and also from the recommended reading and website lists at the boats) in Kinvara as well as weekly teach cheoil traditional Irish concerts the back of your Burren Passport. in Ennistimon and Corrofin, and even winter events such as the Russell music 2 3 the Burren was then shaped by erosion and the GEOLOGY smoothing movements of massive ice sheets. & LANDSCAPE During the last advance of great Ice Age, which ended 12,000 years ago, these ice sheets moved from north to south across the Burren region. The front of these glaciers behaved like massive bulldozers and when they finally melted away they left behind large boulders 340-317 million years ago during the Carboniferous Period in Earth on the surface of the limestone called erratics. History, the Burren formed the floor of a shallow tropical sea, much like Underground dissolution by the melting ice water also created the modern-day Caribbean. many caves, a feature which makes the Burren a popular place for The warm, shallow tropical seas supported a prolific and diverse subterranean explorers called speleologists. range of marine life, including corals and many types of shellfish. When the dead bodies of the marine This text was supplied by Paddy Maher, Geologist, Ruan, Co. Clare. life decayed, they created a See recommended reading and website lists for additional information on limey mud. Over time and this topic. with deeper burial the limey mud compacted to form the limestone rock which forms the present day Burren region. Limestone has a special relationship with water; it will dissolve very slowly in the presence of mildly acidic rainwater and melting ice. When this happens to a large exposed area of limestone what emerges is called a karst geological region. When bare limestone mountains and hills become exposed to wind, rain and ice they become ‘karstified’. After millions of years, the limestone beds were pulled upwards and exposed at the Earth’s surface to form mountains. The landscape of 4 5 G E O L O G Y The largest stalactite in Europe Discovered in 1952, the Great Stalactite at Pol na Ionain, known today FACTS as Doolin Cave (see page 38 for opening times), measures 6.54 metres (20 feet) in length. It is now recognised as being the longest stalactite Did you know? in Europe. This text was supplied by Paddy Maher, Geologist, Ruan, Co. Clare See recommended reading and website lists for additional information Burren rock pavement is very rare and is specially protected on this topic The bare limestone rock pavement of the Burren is dissected by “clint and grike” structures. The grikes, formed by water dissolving away limestone along joints, are the vertical fissures seen running through the solid limestone. The clints are the limestone blocks surrounded by these fissures. This limestone pavement is protected by European legislation because of it’s international importance and, like the rare flowers, it is important that it is not disturbed or damaged. Magical disappearing lakes The disappearing lakes of the Burren are called turloughs. These are seasonally dry lakes that form in hollows in the limestone. They fill and drain with water through a series of holes and cracks in the floor of the turlough which are linked to cave systems. Some of these lakes can fill very quickly and they can be observed to shrink and swell in a matter of hours. The longest cave system in Ireland A cave in the Burren called Poulnagollum is Ireland’s longest cave. It runs for over 15km and is 140 meters deep. It can be found on the eastern slopes of Slieve Elva mountain, near the town of Lisdoonvarna. 6 7 farms and field walls are still BURREN visible as low grass-covered ARCHAEOLOGY mounds over 4000 years after they were built. After this boom time in the Final Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, the population focus may have shifted beyond the Burren It is believed that the first full-time inhabitants of the Burren were and towards southeast Clare. farmers who arrived around 3800 BC. The most visible remains of their The Burren was not completely former presence are the megalithic tombs they built, such as the portal abandoned however, and tomb at Poulnabrone. spectacular finds such as the large gold Gleninsheen gorget are a Throughout the era known as the Neolithic period (c. 4000 - 2400 BC), testament to the significant activity on the Burren in the Bronze Age these farmers raised their herds on the gentle southern slopes of the (1500-600 BC). Burren. The Burren was good to them, but we have evidence, including Pollen evidence for a regeneration of trees on the Burren during large-scale tree clearance, that the subsequent Iron Age (600 BC - 400 AD) indicates an even greater by the end of the Neolithic drop-off in farming and population that lasted until the Early period and into the Early Bronze Medieval period (400 - 1300 AD), when the trees were re-cleared and Age (c. 2400 - 2000 BC), an the population of the Burren increased once again. increasing population may have put considerable pressure on the The text was supplied by Dr Carleton Jones, Archaeologist, NUI Galway Burren’s resources. and author of The Burren and the Aran Islands – Exploring the The Burren contains eighty Archaeology. See recommended reading and website lists for additional wedge tombs (all of which date information on this topic. to this period) and represents the densest concentration of this Poulnabrone Portal Tomb. type of megalithic tomb in Ireland (wedge tombs were the last type of megalithic tomb to be built). The unique environment of the Burren has also ensured that the much more ephemeral remains of these peoples’ 8 9 heated fortified house to a fifteenth- century tower house and the HISTORICAL development of walled pleasure gardens and parkland, at Leamaneh. STRUCTURES HISTORIC BUILDINGS TIME LINE EARLY MEDIEVAL: 400–1300 AD The great stone forts and cahers of Caherballykinvarga, Cahercommaun, Leamaneh Castle, Killinaboy Cahermore, Caherconaill and early church sites – Oughtmama, A journey through the historic Burren takes you to some of the Killinaboy and Kilfenora. best-preserved early medieval buildings in Ireland. There are several great stone forts that functioned as tribal centres of ‘túatha’ or petty HIGH MEDIEVAL: 1100–1350 Kilfenora kingdoms. high crosses and cathedral, From perhaps as early Cistercian abbey of Corcomroe. as the sixth century, early Christian followers began LATE MEDIEVAL: 1300–1550 Continuity of caher tradition – to establish themselves in Cahermacnaghten, Cahermore, development of tower houses Gleninagh, monastic communities and Ballynalackan, Newtown, Donnagore, modifications to parish churches Carran, Drumacreehy, Noughaval; dissolution of abbeys and churches. hermitages and as many as nineteen churches of the EARLY MODERN: 1550–1700 Continuity of tower house and ringfort Burren túatha can claim early settlements; advent of fortified house architecture; dispossession of Christianity ancestry. Burren Gaelic families and transplantation of families into Burren during Tower Houses were Cromwellian Settlement. the strongholds of ruling families and their cadet branches in the Burren, namely the O’Briens and the O’Loughlins in the fifteenth and This text was supplied by Liz Fitzpatrick, Senior Lecturer, Department of sixteenth centuries. Archaeology, NUI, Galway. Historic Burren is a place of continuity and change, and by See recommended reading and website lists for additional information the seventeenth century it had begun to reflect a new interest on this topic by the gentry class in more commodious living.

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