Explore Ireland 2015

Experience the Burren with Tony Kirby

‘The Burren’ is an anglicisation of the Gaelic term ‘An Bhoireann’ which means “a stony place”.

The Burren includes most of the north of County Clare and parts of the south east of County Galway. The region covers an area of over 350 square kilometres.

The Burren is a heritage landscape of international significance. The region boasts an extraordinarily rich geological, botanical and archaeological heritage. The ancient farming practice of transferring cattle to the Burren uplands in winter is intrinsically linked to this wealth of heritage.

The limestone of the Burren was formed approximately 360 million years ago. However, what is unusual is that huge amounts of the stone have been exposed to the atmosphere over time. The stripping action of the glaciers during the last Ice Age and the unsustainable use of the land by prehistoric farmers have both caused the removal of much of the topsoil. The legacy is the most extensive example of exposed limestone pavement in Europe – a rare global landform and one of the most distinct landscapes in Europe. The rock is constantly being dissolved by rainwater thus creating magical features on the surface and in the underground.

The Burren is one of Europe’s most important botanical regions. The region boasts a unique Arctic/Alpine/Mediterranean mélange of wildflowers. Lime-loving plants can be seen growing within centimetres of lime-haters. Some montane flowers thrive at sea level. Native species grow in huge abundance. Renowned author/botanist Dr Charles Nelson has said that “you will not find a similar assembly of plants, representing different climatic zones and habitats growing together anywhere else in Europe”.
An equally renowned botanist/author is Bob Gibbons. Gibbons’ most recent book  “The 50 Best Wildflower Sites in the World” (2011) profiles his top 50 botanical regions in the world. The Burren is one of the sites featured.

Mankind has been impacting upon the Burren landscape ever since the Stone Age farmer arrived in the region approximately 6,000 years ago. In fact the Dingle Peninsula is the only other area in Ireland, which can match the Burren for its archaeological wealth. That wealth includes great Stone Age and Bronze Age tombs, fulachta fiadh (outdoor cooking sites), Iron Age hill forts, holy wells, Early Christian ring forts and monastic sites, medieval abbeys and castles and not least the thousands of kilometres of dry stone walls which brilliantly punctuate the landscape. The noted essayist and mapmaker Tim Robinson has described the Burren as “a vast memorial to bygone cultures”.

The Burren is one of the few regions in the world where livestock are transferred to altitude in winter. This farming regime is known as reverse transhumance. Most of the Burren’s geological, botanical and archaeological importance is concentrated in the uplands. The cattle fulfil a critical cultural role in winter. By grazing the uplands they slow down the advance of vegetation and scrub which would otherwise overwhelm the limestone pavement, flowers and monuments. This low intensity farming practice is now known as High Nature Value (HNV) farming.

THE GUIDE
Tony Kirby was born in Limerick city. He has also lived in Dublin and Bologna in the north of Italy. He conducted guided walking tours in Dublin in the late 1990s. In 2002 Tony moved to the Burren in County Clare where he founded a small walking tourism enterprise, which offers a wide variety of guided Burren walks.

Information credit: http://heartofburrenwalks.com

For more information about the Burren and the surrounding area, visit: http://heartofburrenwalks.com and  www.ireland.com/Tourism.