Understand
During Cromwell's campaigns in Ireland one of his generals said of the Burren "There isn't tree to hang a man, water to drown a man nor soil to bury a man". And so the residents were spared from Cromwell's protestant crusade. It's a very apt description. Nothing of any size can grow in the limestone sheet that forms the surface of this entire area, only short grasses and wildflowers. Even so, some of the oldest historical monuments in Ireland can be found in this area, dating back an incomprehensible 5 millenia, to when the Great Pyramids were still under construction.
You can get a detailed insight in Geology, Archaeology and Botany of the Burren at the Burren Display Cenre in Kilfenora.
