Back to Ireland: The Burren
I am working on the third novel in The River of Lakes trilogy and early on in book we find Grace O’Malley Burke, the teenage daughter of Brian and Maureen, visiting Ireland with her girl friends from back home, two Ojibway girls, Annie Strong and Louise Keewatin. Early in their trip they visit The Burren, one of the most remarkable landscapes in Ireland, in the world.
From The Burren National Park website:
“The word “Burren” comes from an Irish word ‘Boíreann’ meaning a rocky place. However it has been referred to in the past as “Fertile rock” due to the mixture of nutrient rich herb and floral species.
In 1651 a Cromwellian Army Officer named Ludlow remarked, ‘of this barony 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 them. This last is so scarce that the inhabitants steal it from one another and yet their cattle are very fat. The grass grows in tufts of earth of two or three foot square which lies between the limestone rocks and is very sweet and nourishing.’
When my family and I lived in Ireland we were fascinated by the region. We lived in Galway, and The Burren was just across Galway Bay. It is a landscape first defined by the sweep of great limestone pavements. Upon closer look you discover that the plant life that grows in the cracks between those pavements is extraordinary, representing an amazing diversity of ecosystems. Arctic-alpine plants grow side by side with Mediterranean plants; many rare Irish plants are only found here, and in abundance.
It’s such a magical landscape…
That this didn’t surprise me…
