The Burren is much-talked about. Conferences and colloquiums abound. There is much debate about conservation and even more conversation. Each May the Burren Law School, founded in 1994, precedes the Burren in Bloom festival when Ballyvaughan is animated with a curiosity and energy that few other places of a similar size can rival. Speakers from all over Ireland come to talk about the latest archaeological excavation, new thinking about orchids, or to throw some previously unknown light on turloughs.
At the annual Burren spring conference, held in early February and running since 1987, a staggering number of topics have been discussed, providing a wealth of illumination. The conference’s mission statement is ‘to provide a space where knowledge and ideas about the Burren may be shared, and practical actions undertaken to sustain this unique place, its communities and culture’.
On a visit in 2008, when he was speaking at the spring conference, Dr David Bellamy summed up the Burren succinctly calling it ‘a time capsule of the last 6,000 years’. But he warned also that it is in danger of being loved too much. The challenge for the future is in sustaining the Burren and its communities while achieving the right balance and keeping the love for its OUV ever so slightly in check.
Mother and cub at Black Head © Marty Johnston
Glossary
Anthropomorphic Shaped like a human silhouette.
Bullaun stone A stone with a large, round, man-made depression.
Cairn Large mound of stones.
Capstone A large roofstone boulder covering the chamber of a megalithic tomb
Cashel Fort made of stone, also known as a rath, ringfort or caher.
Chert A flint-like form of quartz found on limestone strata.
Cist Small box-like structure in which bodies were placed for burial.
Clints Horizontal slabs of limestone pavement.
Cromlech A nineteenth-century name for a dolmen.
Dolmen A chambered tomb supporting a capstone.
Fulacht fiadh An ancient cooking place.
Glacial erratics Large boulders carried by glacial action and deposited throughout the landscape.
Granite Hard igneous rock.
Grave goods Pottery and other offerings left in a tomb with the dead.
Grykes Deep, open fissures or crevices in the limestone pavement.
Kamenitza A shallow pool of limestone.
Karst An area formed by the weathering of soluble rocks and named after a region of Slovenia.
Limestone A sedimentary porous rock widespread throughout the Burren.
Megalithic Built from large stones, from the Greek mega (large) and lithos (stone).
Mesolithic Period between the early Stone Age and the late Stone Age.
Neolithic The late Stone Age, around 4000–2000 BC.
Polje A large enclosed valley or depression caused by erosion and surrounded by steep sides.
Rillenkarren Narrow, sharp-edged solution runnels formed on gently sloping limestone.
Souterrain An underground passage found in early medieval sites.
Stone circle A ring of spaced standing stones with a ritualistic purpose.
Turlough A lake that dries up in summer and is often filled with water in the winter.
Wedge tomb A megalithic tomb whose name is descriptive of its shape, tapering in height and width from front to back.
Burren Bibliography
Balfe, M., A Burren Village, Frenchman Publications, 2006
Brew, F., Still Life: The glaciated valley of north Clare and south Galway, 2004
Cunningham, G., Burren Journey, Shannonside, Limerick, 1978
— Burren Journey West, Shannonside Mid-Western, 1980
— Burren Journey North, Burren Research Press, 1992
— Exploring the Burren, Country House, 1998
Curtis, P. J., The Music of Ghosts, Old Forge Books, 2003
D’Arcy, G., The Natural History of the Burren, Immel, 1992
— The Burren Wall, Tír Eolas, 2006
Drew, D., Burren Karst, Geographical Association, 2001
Dunford, B., Farming and the Burren, Teagasc, 2002
Feehan, J., The Secret Places of the Burren, Carbery Books, 1987
Jones, C., The Burren and the Aran Islands: Exploring the Archaeology, The Collins Press, 2004
Karst Working Group (various eds), The Karst of Ireland, Geological Society of Ireland, 2000
Kirby, T., The Burren & the Aran Islands: A Walking Guide, The Collins Press,2009
Krieger, C., The Fertile Rock: Seasons in the Burren, The Collins Press, 2006
Lysaght, L., An Atlas of Breeding Birds of the Burren & Aran Islands, BirdWatch Ireland, 2002
MacMahon, M., On a Fertile Rock: The Cistercian Abbey of Corcomroe, Kincora Books, 2000
Murphy, M. (ed.), Máire Rua: Lady of Leamaneh, Ballinakella Press, 1990
Nelson, C., Wild Plants of the Burren and the Aran Islands, The Collins Press, 1999
Nelson, C. & Walsh, W., The Burren: A companion to the wildflowers of an Irish limestone wilderness, Boethius Press & the Conservancy of the Burren, 1991
Ó Céirín, C., The Outlandish World of the Burren, Rathbane Publishing, 1998
O’ Connell, J.W. & Korff, A. (eds), The Book of the Burren, Tír Eolas, 1991
O’Donohue, J., Anam Cara, HarperCollins, 1997
– Conamara Blues, Doubleday, 2000
Ó Laighléis, R., Terror on the Burren, Móinín, 1998
— Battle for the Burren, Móinín, 2007
Osborne, B. & Jones, M. (eds), Understanding the Burren, Royal Irish Academy,2003
Owens, P., Climbs in the Burren and Aran Islands, Mountaineering Council of Ireland, 2008 239
Poyntz, S., A Burren Journal, Tír Eolas, 2000
— (ed.), Burren Villages: Tales of History and Imagination, Mercier Press, 2010
Praeger, R. L., A Tourist’s Flora of the West of Ireland, Hodges, Figgis, 1909
— The Way That I Went, Hodges, Figgis, 1937
Robinson, T., The Burren: a two-inch map of the uplands of north-west Clare, Folding Landscapes, 1999
Self, C. A. (ed.), Caves of County Clare, University of Bristol SpelaeologicalSociety, 1979
Simms, M., Exploring the limestone landscapes of the Burren and the Gort lowlands, Burrenkarst, 2001
Swinfen, A., Forgotten Stones: Ancient church sites of the Burren and environs, Lilliput Press, 1992
Tratman, E. K. (ed.), Caves of North-West Clare, Ireland, David & Charles.
Webb, D. A. & Scannell, M. J. P., Flora of Connemara and the Burren, RoyalDublin Society & Cambridge University Press, 1983
Westropp, T. J., Archaeology of the Burren: Prehistoric Forts and Dolmens in North Clare, Clasp Press, 1999 (reprint)
General Bibliography
Aalen, F. H. A. & Whelan, K., Stout, M. (eds), Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape, Cork University Press, 1997
Abbey, E., Desert Solitaire, Ballantine Books, 1968
Bryson, B., The Lost Continent, Secker and Warburg, 1989
Bulfin, W., Rambles in Eirinn, M. H. Gill & Son, 1907
Bunbury, T., The Irish Pub, Thames & Hudson, 2008
Cabot, D., The New Naturalist: Ireland, HarperCollins, 1999
Cocker, M., Crow Country, Jonathan Cape, 2007
Cowie, D., Ireland: The Land and the People, A. S. Barnes, 1976
Curtis, P. J., Notes from the Heart, Poolbeg, 1994
Davies, D. W., Megalith: Eleven Journeys in Search of Stones, Gomer, 2006
Dunne, L. & Feehan, J., Ireland’s Mushroom Stones: Relics of a Vanished Lakeland, University College Dublin, 2003
Fairley, J., A Basket of Weasels, James Fairley, 2001
Fanthorpe, U. A., New & Collected Poems, Enitharmon, 2010
Fitzgerald, M. A., Thomas Johnson Westropp: An Irish Antiquary, UniversityCollege Dublin, 2000 240
Gellhorn, M., Travels with Myself and Another, Allen Lane, 1978
Grigson, G., Country Writings, Century Publishing, 1984
Har
bison, P., Guide to National and Historic Monuments of Ireland, Gill &Macmillan, 1992
Harding, J. M., Discovering Irish Butterflies & their Habitats, 2008
Hayward, R., Munster and the City of Cork, Phoenix, 1964
Heaney, S., The Spirit Level, Faber, 1996
Hughes, H., Frommer’s 500 Places to See Before They Disappear: A Celebration of the World’s Fragile Wonders, Frommer, 2009
Jennett, S., Munster, Faber, 1967
Kohn, M., Turned Out Nice, Faber, 2010
Longley, M., Collected Poems, Cape Poetry, 2006
Mabey, R., Selected Writings, 1974–1999, Chatto & Windus, 1999
— Nature Cure, Chatto & Windus, 2005
McCaig, E. (ed.), The Poems of Norman MacCaig, Polygon, 2009
McConnell, B. (ed.), Geology of Galway Bay, Geological Survey of Ireland, 2004
McDonald, B. (ed.), Extreme Landscape: The Lure of Mountain Spaces, NationalGeographic Society, 2002
Macfarlane, R., Mountains of the Mind, Granta, 2003
— The Wild Places, Granta, 2007
Mac Liammoír, M., Ireland, Thames & Hudson, 1966
MacNeice, L., Collected Poems 1925–1948, Faber, 1949
Mills, S., Nature in its Place: The Habitats of Ireland, Bodley Head, 1987
Neillands, R., Walking Through Ireland, Little, Brown & Company, 1993
Newby, E., Round Ireland in Low Gear, Collins, 1987
O’Brien, K., My Ireland, Batsford, 1962
Perrin, J., West: A Journey through the Landscapes of Loss, Atlantic Books, 2010
Pilcher, J. & Hall, V., Flora Hibernica, The Collins Press, 2001
Rackard, A., Fish Stone Water: The Holy Wells of Ireland, Attic Press, 2000
Robinson, T., Setting Foot on the Shores of Connemara & Other Writings, Lilliput Press, 1996
— Connemara: Listening to the Wind, Penguin, 2006
Somerville-Large, P., The Grand Irish Tour, Hamish Hamilton, 1982
Thackeray, W., The Irish Sketchbook, 1842, Blackstaff Press, 1985
Twohig, E.S., Irish Megalithic Tombs, Shire Publications, 2004
Viney, M., Ireland: A Smithsonian Natural History, Blackstaff Press, 2003
Wallis, C., Richard Long: Heaven and Earth, Tate Publishing, 2009
Acknowledgements
This book has been written for the pleasure of thinking about the Burren, going there to gather the material and talking to those who know it well. In the writing of it I have received help and inspiration from many people. First of all, I would like to thank Dr Ralph Forbes who prised open the Burren wildflower door many years ago on a memorable spring field trip organised through Queen’s University, Belfast.
My agent Jonathan Williams provided unending support and steered Burren Country to its destination. I am grateful to Gordon and Esther-Mary D’Arcy for reading and commenting on the manuscript, spotting some scientific solecisms and suggesting improvements. They also shared their deep well of Burren knowledge and offered me hospitality at their home. I would like to thank Margaret Ó Loclainn (not least for the welcoming nips of whiskey), Sarah Poyntz, Fr. Des Forde, Ré Ó Laighléis, Seán Tyrrell and Manus Walsh for agreeing to be interviewed at length, for their patience in answering all my questions and giving unstintingly of their time.
Three writers, Mary O’Malley, Michael Fewer and Tony Kirby, provided fruitful discussion and guidance during Burren rambles. Valuable local information as well as titbits of gossip came from Madeleine Quinn, Jim McCarthy, Jim Hyland and the staff of the Hyland’s Burren Hotel.
Michael Williams of NUI Galway kindly helped me locate and put in context the glacial erratics. On several occasions Seán Fagan identified wild flowers previously known to me only through photographs in books of flora and I thank him and Frances Chapman. Sharon Parr and Stephen Ward imparted their knowledge of matters Burren through guided talks.
It has been a pleasure to walk the limestone pavement in the company of two former BBC colleagues, both now master photographers, Marty Johnston and Trevor Ferris whose artistic work considerably enhances this book and who were exceptionally generous in supplying photographs as well as giving of their time. Marty provided the perfect muse with his cover photograph and offered many imaginative suggestions. For his graphic design skills, I am particularly indebted to Colin McCadden who drew the map I had in mind.
I wish to thank Joe Bruton for allowing me to stay in his cottage in Berneens in the heart of the Burren; I cannot think of a more stimulating and idyllic location in which to write. Nick Condon of Shannon Development has helped me with several Burren-related projects and I thank him for his assistance.
I am most grateful to all those who, since 2008, have actively supported my spring creative writing workshops in Ballyvaughan. The chorus of writers from the Whiterock (appropriate in a Burren context) class run by Belfast Metropolitan College deserve particular mention for their friendship and sense of adventure in coming with me, and I salute them all: Fionnuala Burke, Denis Carson, Kevin Cassidy, Martin Devlin, Marie Forrester, Tom Hannon, George Magennis, Mary Molloy, Christopher Owens, John Robinson, Lila and Phil Stuart, and Bobby Walsh. Thanks are also due to Geraldine Burke, Catherine Byrne, Emma Caffrey, Olive Campbell, Fionnuala Collins, Bernard Conlon, Leo and Margaret Convery, Margaret Costello, Orla Cunningham, Fiona Ellis-Chadwick, Noreen Erskine, Phyl Foley, Lynda Foy, Liz Gough, Anne Hailes, David Harland, Christine Healy, Colette Healy, Declan Henry, Catherine Keating, Patricia Kernaghan, Jonathan Martin, Hugh McCaw, Elaine McComb, Jean McConaghy, Hilary Murnane, Mary O’Sullivan, Julia Paul, Melissa Poiset, Brian Searle, Liz Shaw, John Simpson, Evelyn Smyth, Sarah Thorn, and Colette Walker.
Several of the essays, in slightly different and shorter form, originally appeared in The Irish Times, the Guardian, Ireland of the Welcomes, Escape, and The Clare Champion and I thank the editors of these publications. Warm thanks to David Torrans at No Alibis Bookshop in Belfast who has supported my previous books and who introduced me several years ago to the work of Edward Abbey, otherwise known as ‘Cactus Ed’.
I gratefully acknowledge all those authors and poets from whose books I have quoted extracts. Michael Longley kindly agreed to allow as a preliminary the use of his poem ‘Burren Prayer’, published by Jonathan Cape in Collected Poems, 2006. ‘The Burren’ is from U. A. Fanthorpe’s New & Collected Poems, published by Enitharmon Press, 2010. The extract from ‘A Burren Prayer’, from Conamara Blues by John O’Donohue and published by Doubleday, is reprinted by permission of the Random House Group Ltd. ‘Sligo and Mayo’ is extracted from the ‘The Closing Album’ published by Faber in Collected Poems, 1925– 1948 by Louis MacNeice and is reprinted by permission of David Higham Associates Ltd. The extract from ‘Thirst in the Burren’ by Moya Cannon is from Carrying the Songs, published in 2007, and is reprinted by permission of Carcanet Press Ltd. Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders. Any omissions will be rectified at the earliest opportunity.
If I have inadvertently left out any names, I apologise and offer a heartfelt thank you to everyone. My greatest thanks go to my wife Felicity and son Daniel (who first glimpsed the Burren’s limestone pavement aged four months). They have provided a bedrock of support and ceaseless encouragement for my projects undertaken a long way from home. I dedicate this book jointly to them, as well as to all Burren travellers.
Paul Clements,
Belfast, January 2011
Websites
www.ballyvaughanireland.com
www.burrenbeo.com
www.burrencollege.ie
www.burrenconnect.ie
www.burrenforts.ie
www.burrenlife.com
www.burrennationalpark.ie
www.burrentolkiensociety.ie
www.masterphotographers.co.uk
www.PhotoLanna.com
www.theburrencentre.ie
Summer sunset over Galway Bay © Marty Johnston
The spring gentian, the emblem of the Burren © Marty Johnston
Early
Christian churches of Oughtmama © Trevor Ferris
Early-purple orchid – a Burren spectacular © Marty Johnston
The Flaggy Shore © Trevor Ferris
Glacial erratic at Black Head with facial expression similar to an Easter Island stone statue © Marty Johnston
Stonewall, Rock Forest near Mullaghmore © Trevor Ferris
Bloody cranesbill, one of the spring specialties of the Burren flora © Marty Johnston
Winter scene along the coast road near Ballyvaughan © Trevor Ferris
Rare black swans with mute swan, Lough Murri © Trevor Ferris
The Cistercian Abbey at Corcomroe completed in the early 13th century © Marty Johnston
Darkness descending over the Rock Forest, Mullaghmore © Trevor Ferris
Herb Robert on the limestone pavement © Marty Johnston
Signpost at the T-junction, Ballyvaughan © Marty Johnston
Mrs Puss, Ballyvaughan’s famed tortoiseshell cat, prepares to read about the day’s sensations © Trevor Ferris
Drystone wall at Murroughtoohy South © Trevor Ferris
An erratic perch for Paul Clements © Trevor Ferris
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