Exploring the stones and bones of the Burren

A LONGFORD man hopes to inform locals and visitors alike about the archaeological heritage of the Burren through his new book, Burren Archaeology – A Tour Guide.
Hugh McCarthy has lived in Clare since 1992 and after visiting the Burren and meeting its residents and enthusiasts, he developed a deep interest in the area.
“When I came to County Clare I didn’t know anything about the Burren. So just being here and being in contact with people who are interested in the Burren, that is what drew me to it in the first place. I have met loads of people who are just very enthusiastic about the Burren. Dr Brendan Dunford is one of those people and was one of the first people who got me hooked on it. He has done and is still doing great work to raise awareness of the Burren,” Hugh asserts and so it is only fitting that Dr Dunford is set to officially launch the book later this week.
Hugh hopes to illuminate the Burren’s dense concentration of archaeological remains.
“The book is aimed at two markets,” he explains. “It is for any visitor that comes to the Burren and wants to find out some of the background to the archaeology but it is also for local people who know about the Burren but have never got up there to have a closer look at the archaeology. I deliberately set out not to make it like an academic text, so it is written in plain, simple English. It is very accessible with a bit of humour in there and lots of information,” he claims.
“The book is broken into two parts. The first part is background information and general information on the archaeological ages and what was going on in the Burren dating right back to 7000BC. What I am trying to do there is for someone who doesn’t know anything about archaeology, to set the Burren in an Irish context and also in the context of what has been going on further afield,” he continues.
The Burren’s monuments illustrate the story of human activity since it began nearly 10,000 years ago. Many people are daunted by the prospect of reading about “stones and bones”, he states but he promises the guide makes the stones and bones of the Burren understandable by telling the stories behind the monuments.
Archaeology is ultimately about real people: whether they were cheeky monks at Corcomroe or arthritic farmers at Poulnabrone, people built or made these monuments and artefacts. Hugh relates what was happening in the Burren to events as far away as Iceland and Egypt and includes background information relevant to understanding Burren archaeology.
This is followed by descriptions of over 40 individual sites and monuments with full location information for all, divided into Burren East, Burren North, Burren West and Burren Central, making it easy to plan trips. Indeed, it was his own efforts to plan trips there that inspired the book.
After studying archaeology for two years at NUIG during his degree programme in the late ’70s, he went on to have a lengthy career in the army before returning to college and in 2008, he obtained an Honours Diploma in Archaeology from NUIG. He now provides private guided tours to corporate clients from his base in Ennis.
“The nice thing about the NUIG course is that it focused on the Burren and the Aran Islands, so it was relevant to what I was doing in the job and the guided tours. It was good for background information when I was doing the tours. It was funny the way the book happened. I wanted to write a couple of pages for my business website, www.karontravel.ie, about archaeology as another interesting thing about the Burren. I started writing and I kept writing and realised at some stage that there was a book in it. The more research I did, the more interested I became and it just took over my life for two years. After I had the first part finished I approached Collins Press and they decided to run with it,” he goes on.
The attractions of the Burren are manifold, according to Hugh, who suggests there is something for everyone in the barren North Clare landscape.
“There is so much in the Burren to interest people. From my point of view, the archaeology is what attracts me. The Burren and the Dingle Peninsula have the densest population of archaeology in the country and people come from all over the world to see the flora and fauna here. Others like the geology, for others it is the music, others like the landscape, there is just so much up there,” he comments.
“I am looking at concentrating on archaeological tours. I think there is a market there and I think the Burren is one of the best places in the country to do that,” he continues.
Dr Dunford will publicly launch Burren Archaeology, A Tour Guide, this Friday in the Temple Gate Hotel, Ennis at 8pm.