As you travel through the Burren, 7,000 years of
history unfolds before your eyes, with farmsteads from the
Stone Age and the Iron Age, churches, abbeys and high crosses,
plus castles and fortresses of local lords.
According to Mytum (1982) 'In the distribution of
ecclesiastical sites, the Burren is quite exceptional'. The
region boasts a dense concentration of early church sites,
whilst Corcomroe Abbey, built at the end of the 12th century
by the Cistercians, is one of the best-known monastic sites in
Ireland.
The abundance of megalithic tombs and ancient farm
settlements in the Burren Region indicate a prospering
agricultural-based economy steeped in antiquity. The region
boasts over 75 wedge tombs, 2 portal tombs and 4 known court
tombs.
The term fulachta fiadh means 'cooking places of the wild'
or 'cooking places of the deer'. Several hundred of these
horseshoe-shaped mounds, that could be 5,000 years old, exist
in the Burren uplands.
The remains of approximately 500 ring forts exist in the
Burren, varying in diameter from 20 to 60 meters. These are
believed to have supported Early Christian farming families
and were constructed during the period 600 - 900 AD.
Tower Houses were built from the 14th to the mid-17th
century by Anglo-Irish noblemen and Gaelic lords, with
counties under Gaelic control such as Clare and Limerick
showing the densest distributions. The famous tower house of
Lemeneagh in the southern Burren dates from c. 1490 AD. Tower
house were designed defensively to protect against cattle
raids and military threats.
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