WITH its ancient stone walls, limestone pavement and glacial erratics, the Burren in Clare has at last been awarded a prestigious international recognition. The recent designation of Global Geopark status, supported by Unesco, for the Burren and Cliffs of Moher has led to a heightened level of interest in the area and in its geological jargon.
Official recognition came at the European Geoparks conference in Norway and is the result of three years’ work by the Burren Connect Project in conjunction with Clare County Council. Two other places in Ireland also have Geopark status: the Marble Arch Caves in Fermanagh and the Copper Coast in Waterford. Apart from a potential tourism spin-off, the award will help with protection and will raise awareness of the geology of sites that are accessible to the public.
The new designation comes after a promotional boost in June when the Burren was chosen as one of six Irish national parks to be celebrated by An Post with a special stamp showing off the rocky limestone terracing of Mullaghmore. The Burren and its visitors occasionally feature in the news. In the summer Steven Spielberg made a return trip to Ballyvaughan, stopping off on his way to Monaco, to sample the cheesecake in the Tea Garden Rooms. Three years ago, the chef Gordon Ramsay dived for edible sea urchins in Ballyvaughan Bay. Aside from the celebrities, the Burren holds a wide appeal for a diverse range of people. So what is it about the place that weaves such an enduring spell? Its flowers are world renowned and in May botanists, armed with magnifying glasses and gardeners’ kneepads, commune with rare arctic and alpine species such as gentians and mountain avens. Archaeologists love it because it is littered with ruins and strange relics of the past.
More than 2,000 monuments have been recorded, three times the national average.
Artists, writers, poets and photographers have been inspired, particularly by the chiaroscuro – the interplay of light and shade. Late on a clear spring evening a delicate pale pink hue often creeps imperceptibly across the rocks, rouging them with sunset. At other times the hills glisten with a dusting of icing-sugar whiteness.
Generations of butterfly hunters with their nets and collecting bags have been drawn to the area to study the dazzling iridescence of butterflies’ wings. More than 30 different species have been noted including the Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Dingy Skipper, Wood Tiger and Transparent Burnet. In summer 2010, Ireland’s leading bee specialists descended for a weekend “Bee Blitz” of apitherapy and identified a new population of the Great Yellow Bumblebee. Colonies of the Shrill carder bee, with its high-pitched buzz, and the Red-shanked carder bee make the Burren by far the most important location for them in Ireland or Britain.
Fascinating recondite information frequently emerges. The slow worm, a small legless lizard, was first seen in the area in 1971 and the Burren is the only Irish breeding colony of the creature. Mycologists have travelled from throughout Europe to study the rare glue fungus on hazel trees in Keelhilla wood, a national nature reserve. And the first colony of the land winkle was discovered near New Quay on the Flaggy Shore in 1976.
Constantly, the Burren puzzles, astonishes and excites. But for many the limestone is the glittering attraction, especially with a rainy after-sheen. One of the main purposes of the new Geopark title is to promote the geological aspect to a wider public. Spend a few days in the area and you realise that everything about the Burren is rooted in geology which, with its rich vocabulary, produces sonorous, hard and fanciful words: clints and grykes, kamenitza and rillenkarren being but four examples.
The Geological Society of Ireland has, without much fuss, designated five sites in the Burren as being of international importance and another seven of national significance. One of the sites is Sheshymore, three miles south of the much-photographed Poulnabrone dolmen stone. It is invisible to all but the most dedicated limestone lover because it is hidden by an impenetrable tangle of trees and vegetation.
Few manage to make their way into it, but those who do take the trouble, find themselves in an area with an unbounded sense of freedom, a limestone landscape de luxe and a place where you could be forgiven for thinking that the earth is cracking open. The Burren offers many dreamy places in which to linger, but if you seek somewhere with a deep sense of solitude, make your way to Sheshymore.
In his seminal companion to the wildflowers published in 1991, the botanist Dr Charles Nelson wrote that the Burren is “ineluctable”. It is a place that can profoundly affect and entrap those who come, whether on scientific or non-scientific missions. And as they have done for years, Burrenophiles will continue to head west towards the sun, and to the space and sweep of big skies: connoisseurs of ocean views, analysers of silences, riders of huge breakers, shooters of the breeze, hippies and hedonists, dreamers, dropouts and cloud-appreciators – all flirting with an exuberant and enigmatic land.
Paul Clements is the author of
Burren Country, Travels through an Irish Limestone Landscape
, published by The Collins Press