The Burren: Introduction

Clare County Library

Clare Places and Placenames

The Burren: Introduction
After two days march, without anything remarkable but bad quarters, we entered into the barony of Burren, of which it is said, that it is a country where there is not water enough to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury him. Edmund Ludlow 1651. The Burren is a limestone plateau occupying an area of over one hundred square miles in North Clare. It is an area of scenic attractions where the clear light, reflected from the stone-grey hills, seems to radiate an air of timelessness, which is made more realistic by the presence of the many prehistoric remains that dot the fields and the valleys beneath. Here the unfolding layers of limestone form terraces on the slopes of the hills - a limestone desert but with a quick-changing landscape. Within a few miles may be seen verdant valleys, bright, green hills thick with hazel and bramble, while the grey heights are relieved by streaks of coloured vegetation contained in the fissures and rock joints.
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