Qualla: The Burren https://qualla.com/the-burren en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/q/the-burren-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: The Burren https://qualla.com/the-burren The Burren: Introduction https://qualla.com/the-burren/ Photo credit psyberartist, CC BY 2.0. Edmund Ludlow's verdict on this place has never quite been bettered. Sent in 1651 to suppress Irish resistance in the wake of Cromwell's conquest, the parliamentary general summarized what he found: "a country where there is not enough water to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury him... and yet their cattle are very fat; for the grass growing in turfs of earth, of two or three foot square, that lie between the rocks, which are of limestone, is very sweet and nourishing." In four hundred years almost nothing about the Burren has changed enough to make Ludlow wrong. It is still a hard place. The cattle are still fat. The grass in the cracks is still impossibly sweet.

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Image: psyberartist | CC BY 2.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/q/the-burren-wp/gc3q-the-burren-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full The Burren: A Sea Turned to Stone https://qualla.com/the-burren/ Photo credit HEireann at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0. The Burren measures roughly 530 square kilometres, centred in northwestern County Clare and bounded by the villages of Lisdoonvarna, Corofin, Gort, and Kinvara. Geologically it is much larger than that - the same Carboniferous limestone extends north under Galway Bay to surface a...

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Image: HEireann at English Wikipedia | CC BY 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/q/the-burren-wp/gc3q-the-burren-a-sea-turned-to-stone.mp3 0:06 2 full The Burren: Where the Arctic Meets the Mediterranean https://qualla.com/the-burren/ Photo credit Dr Charles Nelson, CC BY-SA 2.0. Over 70 percent of Ireland's species of flowering plants grow in the Burren. That figure is staggering for a region this size, and what makes it stranger is the company those plants keep. Spring gentian - a brilliant blue Alpine flower that elsewhere grows at high altitude in the...

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Image: Dr Charles Nelson | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/q/the-burren-wp/gc3q-the-burren-where-the-arctic-meets-the-mediterranean.mp3 0:06 3 full The Burren: Five Thousand Years of Tombs https://qualla.com/the-burren/ Photo credit Ingo Mehling, CC BY-SA 3.0. Around 33,000 years ago, hunters were already in this landscape - cave deposits hold butchered animal bones radiocarbon-dated to that depth. By the Neolithic, around 4000 BC, settlers had begun clearing trees, building stone walls, and raising megalithic monuments. The Poulnabron...

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Image: Ingo Mehling | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/q/the-burren-wp/gc3q-the-burren-five-thousand-years-of-tombs.mp3 0:06 4 full The Burren: The Prince of Burren https://qualla.com/the-burren/ Photo credit User:Borvan53, Public domain. The medieval Burren had its own dynasty. The O'Loughlin clan ruled Boireann from their tower house at Gregans Castle down to the mid-17th century, and the head of the family bore the title "Prince of Burren." Their kinsmen the O'Conors ruled west to Liscannor from Dough Castle. B...

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Image: User:Borvan53 | Public domain

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/q/the-burren-wp/gc3q-the-burren-the-prince-of-burren.mp3 0:06 5 full The Burren: A UNESCO Geopark https://qualla.com/the-burren/ Photo credit The Banner, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark, designated by UNESCO in 2011, encompasses an expansive interpretation of the Burren including the Cliffs of Moher to the south. The Burren National Park is much smaller - about 1,500 hectares in the southeast - and is the smallest of Irelan...

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Image: The Banner | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/q/the-burren-wp/gc3q-the-burren-a-unesco-geopark.mp3 0:06 6 full The Burren: Caves and Cliffs https://qualla.com/the-burren/ Photo credit Joseph Mischyshyn, CC BY-SA 2.0. The same dissolution that fissures the surface drills tunnels below it. Pollnagollum, one of the longest cave systems in Ireland, runs under the limestone with the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation based nearby at Doolin. The sea cliffs at Ailladie draw rock climbers from across Eur...

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Image: Joseph Mischyshyn | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/q/the-burren-wp/gc3q-the-burren-caves-and-cliffs.mp3 0:06 7 full