County Guide to Co. Clare (The Burren)

Submitted by enkidu41 on Tuesday, 08 June 2004 Page Views: 7283

Neolithic and Bronze AgeCountry: Ireland (Republic of) County: Co. Clare
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**Poulaphuca** submitted by enkidu41 : M 264017 A wedge tomb with a box-like chamber closed at the E end by a slab which has a corner chipped away to make a "spirit entrance" or "soul hole". (Vote or comment on this photo)

My main expertise is of The Burren (from bhoireann meaning "stony or rocky place") in the north west of Co. Clare. It is a unique 150 square mile sweep of limestone. This most transient of rock is so vulnerable even to the mild acid of rainwater that it is being returned to the sea at the rate of half a centimetre a century. An austere landscape of wide areas of bare limestone “pavements” riven by fractures now eroded out into clefts called “grykes” down which the copious rainfall of the west of Ireland disappears leaving the land underfoot dry.

It is also a botanist's dream being home to flowers of Alp and Tundra and Mediterranean - Spring Gentian, Mountain Avens , Maidenhair Fern, Mediterranean Orchid. Towards the end of the Stone Age, man was drawn to the Burren by the dry and wooded uplands and immediately embarked on large-scale forest clearance. This and the constant action of wind on the cleared areas together with overgrazing resulted in exhaustion of the soil and, by mediaeval times, the stark landscape we see today.

The Burren has one of the richest concentrations of ancient sites in Ireland. Hillforts, ring forts (or “raths” of which there nearly 500) , a few souterrains and standing stones, but mostly tombs – the few neolithic portal tombs (Poulnabrone) and court tombs (Teergonean), but upwards of 70 of the early Bronze Age wedge tombs (Cappaghkennedy, Poulaphuca, Gleninsheen) of which more are undoubtedly yet to be found. There are also scores of holy wells (St. Brigid’s) nearly all dedicated to the curing of one ailment or another.

The origin of the vast majority of these is undoubtedly pre-Christian but many became sponsored by the Christian church and became dedicated to a local saint. The pagan tradition still persists however and the preservation of the forts, burials as well as some of the holy wells arises from the strong local tradition associating them with the Fairy Folk and so best left alone.

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