Burren Ireland information - Burren Living
Because of the stark and bare character of the Burren uplands, the fact that it is criss-crossed by numerous drystone walls seems puzzling. The origins of these walls are multi-fold. Some date back to Neolithic times but most of them appear to date from the recent past: AD c.1600-1900. Whatever their age, design or condition, these walls do make social and economic sense as administrative, property and livestock boundaries, past and present. The plentiful supply of stone made them easy to construct. Moreover, the presence of nutritious upland grazing lands makes their maintenance, even today, viable and necessary.
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The so-called Burren winterages are the summits of the local hills which peak out at around 250 metres (830 ft) above sea level. Amazing as it may seem, these markedly flat uplands provide rich natural grazing for livestock, especially cattle and goats, all year round. Particularly, during the winter months, the temperate Atlantic climate, coupled with the free-draining rock and brightly coloured limestone rock, combine to encourage almost continuous grass-growth in the sheltered grykes and hollows in the limestone. The result is that local farmers actually over-winter large numbers of livestock on these hills from October to April. This unique practice dates back for hundreds if not thousands of years - witness the words of Ludlow in 1651 - and may well explain the very perceived paradox of the Burren as "fertile rock".
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