the burren national park

The word Burren derives its name from Boireann, which means 'rocky land' in Gaelic - an apt name for this vast limestone plateau in northwest County Clare.
In the 1640's Cromwell's surveyor described it as 'a savage land, yielding neither water enough to drown a man nor tree to hang him, nor soil enough to bury'.
Few trees manage to grow in this desolate place, yet other plants thrive. The Burren is a unique botanical environment in which Mediterranean and alpine plants rare to Ireland grow side by side.
Glaciation and wind and rain erosion have formed limestone pavements with deep crevices known as 'grykes'. The porous rock is easily penetrated by rain water, which has gouged out an extensive cave system beneath the rocky plateau.