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Locked between Galway Bay and the Shannon estuary, County Clare stands as one of the rocky West Coast buttresses, shielding the boggy central plains of Ireland from the ferocity of Atlantic storms. The most prominent bulwark consists of the Cliffs of Moher, which rise in primordial splendour and gaze disdainfully over the waves that crash ineffectually about their feet.

A little farther to the north, a different method of defence is attempted in the form of a barrier that is deceptively gentle of incline, and perhaps less awe-inspiring, though no less effective. Pushed away into the north-west corner of the county, like an afterthought, lies a tiny area of land almost unique in Europe known as the Burren.

The word burren comes from the Irish bhoireann, meaning “stony place.” Indeed, the overwhelming first impression as one enters this strange region is one of appalling stony barrenness. White hills rise like the slaggy, terraced spoil heaps of industry. Except in a few sheltered hollows, hardly a tree can be seen. Yet there is no heavy industry here, nor has there ever been.

The white is of limestone, which extends as far as can be seen in all directions. As one penetrates deeper into its midst, one feels drawn into a land of magic soaked in the mist and mysticism of ancient Celtic legend, for nothing in the Burren is as it seems, at first, to be.

It is a place that appears bare of humanity, but with abundant evidence of human activity reaching back into a long-forgotten past. Its agriculture operates in reverse. It supports animals that should not be found in such an environment and an abundance of flora that would maintain research material for generations of botanists. It has almost as much scenery below the ground as above it.

Although the human population of the Burren is now sparse, it was not always so. What was once a thriving community was long ago wasted by Ireland’s twin afflictions of famine and emigration. The landscape, now empty, was covered densely with forests of pine and yew, but these were cleared by the Neolithic peoples of around 3,000 BC, descendants of the earliest inhabitants, who built settlements in the coastal regions toward the end of the last ice age.

That the farming of cattle during the Stone and early Bronze ages supported a large population is shown by the profusion of archaeological remains. Burial mounds, portal dolmens, wedge tombs, cooking sites, ringed enclosures and walls more than 2,000 years old lie scattered everywhere. More than 500 sites have been documented so far, and even a casual visitor has no need to search for them.

With the coming of the Iron Age Celts from eastern Europe, the economic and cultural activity of the region expanded dramatically. Hundreds of ring forts, many still occupied as late as the 17th century, testify to the power of the chieftains who ruled over the Celtic clans.

When the Normans invaded Ireland, in the time of Henry II, they built their castles throughout the countryside. They merely passed through Clare, however, and did not settle. The chieftains, on the other hand, quickly adapted the invaders’ defensive architecture to their own needs, and built castles in imitation.

Traditional farming methods in the Burren are the opposite of those employed elsewhere. Although the few bushes and small trees, which grow in the thin soil, are bowed heavily and distorted by the westerly gales, the winter climate is surprisingly mild and heavy snowfalls rare.

The Gulf Stream has a marked warming effect on the air, while the limestone acts both as a strong reflector of light and as an enormous heat store. The result is that, in winter, the hillsides are often warmer than the valleys, so that the cattle are released onto the mountains in November and are not brought down again to the low pastures until spring is well advanced.

During their stay on hills, the animals are able to find ample sustenance, for again the Burren has a surprise. The apparent sterility, which the limestone escarpments present to the sea-level observer, hides an endless series of broad terraces, covered with the lushest of vegetation.

Water is plentiful. It disappears through cracks in the limestone, bubbles about underground and emerges lower down the hillside, only to repeat its hide-and-seek progress many times. Grassy depressions, known as turloughs, can turn into small lakes in an hour and revert to dryness just as quickly.

The source of this trickery is to be found in the more than fifty kilometres of caverns and subterranean passages that honeycomb the land. For an experienced potholer, most of these are relatively easy to explore. One of them, near Doolin, contains what is said to be the longest stalactite in western Europe. The best-known cave is that at Ailwee, which a local farmer discovered in 1944. As well as the geological features common to limestone caves, Ailwee is of interest because of the skeletons and hibernation beds of long-dead bears that were found there.

The real glory of the Burren, however, is to be seen in the profligacy of its flowers. In spring it transforms into a natural, exotic rock garden, rioting in colour. Arctic and alpine plants, survivors of the ice age, mingle with Mediterranean species. Normally calcifuge heathers thrive in the lime-rich soil. Creamy carpets of mountain avens contrast sharply with the blue of gentian. To this is added the yellow of rockrose, the deep magenta of bloody cranesbill and the white of saxifrage. As summer advances, orchids come into bloom, white varieties, pink, purple, and those that mimic the appearance of bees and butterflies. Many of these flowers may not be immediately in evidence, but are found easily if one looks down into the deep, sheltered grykes that split the limestone pavements.

The grykes also provide hiding places for various animals, including stoats, weasels and hares. A quiet visitor might even spend some minutes in the close company, even though there is not a conifer in sight, of a pine marten. Known here as the Burren cat, this inquisitive creature has somehow adapted to the deforestation of the area.

The full extent of the Burren is small, stretching 25 ml from Doolin in the west to Lough Bunny in the east and 10 miles north to south, from Ballyvaughan to Kilfenora. Its wonders can be glimpsed during a day’s leisurely car drive. Yet such is the variety of its abundance that a year’s close study would come nowhere near to exhausting all it has to offer.

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