What is the Burren?

Ten years ago I was cycling through the Burren when I came across a car stopped at a junction with a couple of perplexed people inside consulting their map. I asked if I could help.

"We’re looking for the Burren", they said.

"Well, you’re in it", I said, thinking: ’that was easy’.

"Yes", they said (still looking perplexed) "but where exactly is it?"

"This is it", sez I, "it’s all around you".

"Hmmm", said they, not convinced, "but where can we see it?"

"Ah-ha!" the light begins to dawn on me, "you want to see classic Burren landscape?" Vigorous nodding. "Then you should go up this road and turn left and then go here and here and then you’ll get a really good view of the Burren."

Much happy smiling and they start to put away their map.

"Or" I continued enthusiastically, "you could turn right here and go here and here and then you would get a different, but equally good view of the Burren."

The perplexed looks come back, the map is unfolded and the driver says to me very slowly and pointedly: "Okay. So is the Burren to the right or to the left?"

In an effort to help those who remain confused about what or where the Burren is I will attempt a brief introduction to the region. For those of you who’ve been here before, you can stop reading now and look at the slideshow instead!

The name ’Burren’ comes from the Irish word ’boireann’ which means ’a rocky place’. For some reason it is nowadays usually referred to as The Burren. I don’t know why this is the case; it’s not like there are a whole bunch of other limestone plateaux scattered around Ireland that this one could be confused with.

The distinctive feature of the Burren is its karst topography. This refers to the surface and underground features of the landscape caused by the dissolution of the bedrock (in this case limestone) by mildly acidic rainfall (rain picks up CO2 in the atmosphere to form weak carbonic acid). Any natural weakness in the rock, e.g. fractures, cracks and shallow depressions, begin to enlarge as the acidic rainfall drains into them. As they are enlarged and spread out to join other weaknesses more rainfall drains into them and the process accelerates.

The bedrock of the Burren is naturally fractured in two directions, so the cracks form a grid pattern. The enlarged cracks (known as grikes) define isolated slabs (known as clints). In some cases (for example on the slopes above Black Head) these clints can be very large and very smooth, and are referred to as limestone pavements.

The grikes continue to deepen over time with the result that karst regions have little or no flowing water on the surface. Rainfall quickly disappears underground where it flows seawards in a vast and ever expanding network of caves. If you go caving in the Burren (and many people do) you can see the results of the process of enlargement in the shape of the cave systems: often a passage will be very high, 5 or 10 metres (or much more) and narrow at its apex but wider at its base as the floor of the underground stream lowers and widens over time.

(Incidentally caving in the Burren is fantastic and I highly recommend that you try it, if you get the chance. However caving is extremely dangerous, especially in the Burren due to the possibility of flash flooding trapping and drowning cavers. Unless you are highly experienced yourself, you should only go caving with an experienced guide with local knowledge.)

Thus there are no rivers or streams in the Burren, not until you get to its Western edge where an impermeable underlying layer of shale halts the downward water flow and allows streams to exist (as in the Caher valley). However sometimes an underground watercourse will emerge from a hillside as a spring and travel on the surface for a while before disappearing into the next hole it encounters (these are known as sinkholes and can be enormous). Also there are often temporary streams that occur after heavy rains as the mountains and hills drain to the valleys.

Another feature of these much-perforated landscapes are temporary lakes, known in Ireland as turloughs. Turloughs differ from ordinary lakes in that they are neither fed nor drained by a river. Imagine putting a colander in an empty sink and then gradually filling the sink with water. As the water rises the colander fills through the holes in the bottom. Take the plug out and the colander drains again. Turloughs are like that (I think!) – they fill and drain as the water floods and drains through the underground caves of the Burren. The upshot of this is that the turlough behind the Perfumery can be a field one day, a large lake the next, and then a field again three days later!

The Burren makes up a lozenge-shaped area in the north-west of Clare, bounded on the West by the Atlantic and the North by Galway Bay. The Burren is generally thought of as the hilly part of this region, bordered (roughly!) by the villages of Kilfenora, Lisdoonvarna, Fanore, Ballyvaghan, Kinvara and Corofin. The hills are highest to the north-west, with the whole plateau-like region varying between roughly 200 and 300 metres in height. All of this region exhibits karst topography, however the karst features also extend eastwards in the plains that run towards Gort, making it difficult to limit the Burren solely by geology.

The Burren is best known, perhaps, for its flora, rather than its geology. Three quarters of all native flowering species that grow in Ireland can be found in the Burren, including most of Ireland’s orchid species. The Burren also boasts a unique mix of plants: Mediterranean orchid species grow alongside plants usually found in the Artic, a possible legacy of the last period of glaciation in Ireland. The Burren’s rocky and hilly terrain has also made many modern ’industrial’ farming practices impractical. These means that a greater diversity of species has been preserved here than might have been the case had there been extensive monoculture with its attendant pesticides and fertilizers. The Burren is mostly spectacularly in flower from April through to September, with the patterns of dominant colours changing slowly as the earlier species flower and seed and make way for their successors.

Another consequence of the Burren’s unique terrain is that there is a very high density of archaeological remains. The Burren has been inhabited by man for over six thousand years, and to look at it you would think that it’s inhabitants must have spent a great deal of that time building dolmen, cairns, ring forts and other structures functional or funereal. Many of these monuments are visible and easily accessible from the roads, but there are many more to be discovered in a long ramble across the wilder or higher parts of the Burren. A particular favourite of mine is a long, low dolmen up on the plateau east of the Perfumery which has a cottage built against one end. While it’s an admirably practical way to build a cottage, I’m not sure I’d want my gable to be made out of a Neolithic tomb!

So where can you see the Burren? Well, there is a National Nature Reserve at Keelhilla ( Slieve Carron) in the north eastern corner of the Burren on the road between Kinvarra and the Perfumery and about ten minutes drive from us. This has a bit of everything, and is great for kids too. The track in from the road leads to the foot of the large cliff which forms the eastern side of Slieve Carron. There is an old church hidden in the woods there with a spring and a holy well, and even a small cave nearby. The woods at the base of the cliff are unusually high for the Burren, with many ancient ash trees amongst the lush ferns and mosses. For the more adventurous, Slieve Carron is easily accessible by a track at the southern end of the cliffs where the hillside falls in large steps over a much gentler slope. The top of the mountain is an extensive plateau, with many Spring Gentians in April and May. There is a large cairn and fantastic views across the top of the Burren and north to Galway Bay (Slieve Carron being one of the higher points).

In the south east of the Burren there is the National Park at Mullaghmore. It consists of over a 1100 hectares of State owned land as well other large parcels of land where the ownership is shared with private individuals. Mullaghmore is an amazing mountain, looking (I think anyway!) like a huge, tiered wedding cake that has sort of slumped in the middle. It is well worth walking in to, and even hiking up, if you have the energy. Again, there is a great diversity of flowers, a lake, many fossils in the limestone higher up, spectacular views and a good chance of coming across some of the Burren’s wildlife, like foxes, feral goats, badgers, and pine martens (though you’ll need to be up early, or late, to see the latter two).

Wherever you go in the Burren, take care of the landscape and take care of yourself. It is easy terrain for walking, as it’s mostly dry and solid, but the limestone can get very slippery in the wet, the eroded rock edges are often razor sharp, and there are many grikes to twist or break an ankle, if you stop looking where you are going! Take your time, tread carefully, and wear good boots. The national park areas are open to all, but otherwise you are probably on private land and should check with the landowner. There are many ’green roads’ in the Burren, little used tracks that are often grown over with grass. These are a great way to get away from the cars without having to worry about what’s underfoot. Get a local map and have fun exploring.

The Burren rewards going slowly. There is much to see even along the roadsides if you take your time and look around. I have been exploring the Burren on foot for over ten years and I still constantly come across new vistas, hidden valleys and other treasures.

Ralph Doyle

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