So I found myself taking the sunshine in Kilfenora. Up comes this american tourist all dressed in waxcoat and big hat. 'Can I ask you something' 'Ofcourse, work away' 'Can you tell me where the Burren is?' An often asked question, as simple and at the same time hard to anser. 'It's all around you, the whole area is the Burren' some agitation 'Yes but I want The Real Thing with stones and stuff. where can I find that?' I pointed to a few particularly stony places, towards Ballyvaughan, Mullaghmore mountain, take your pick.
'No for godsake, I want that thing you see in all those pictures, it's stones, like Stonehenge'. 'So it's Poulnabrone dolmen you want to see?' 'For crying out loud I don't care how you guys call it the thing in the picture THAT is what WE call the Burren in the States. So where is it?'. By this time the tone was getting pretty irritated, how could I not understand what 'we in the States' call these things afterall. I pointed the man 'out the Corofin road, turn left at Leamanah castle and keep going until you see all the rented cars parked on the road side'.
A few minutes later I saw him again, looking at a map of the area and driving out of Kilfenora in a direction opposite to the one I pointed out.
Anyhow, fifteen minutes later I was still pondering this failed cross cultural communication effort while crossing a field toward one of the big early settlements of the Burren: Caherballykinvarraga. Never restored or excavated this massive fort sits well hidden from the touristtrail, we had the place to ourselves (not counting the sheep). Little is known of what the place was about. It is assumed it was an early pre-christian settlement which in later times became the centre of power the Barony of Corcomroe.
Around the main enclosure is a line of defense of standing stones, a chevaux de frise, hard to get through even today, and no locals pelting stoens and spears as you go along. A few further ring shaped enclosures and perimeters dot the area. A great place.
Approach to the fort:
Chevaux de frise:
inner enclosure:
Big hawthorn tree inside the central enclosure. My guess is there was once a well there and the tree is a sacred one: on a visit some years ago the branches of the tree had a large amount of little rags tied to them, these are votive gifts from people seeking resolution to a problem or a cure for a disease. These are often found in trees near Holy Wells.
View of the main fort from a second circular enclosure:
On the way back, hidden between some massive Hollybushes and big old Ashes we found this well hidden and beautifully atmospheric Holy Well, down a field, only a few miles from home actually. I don't know anything about thsi one or what ailment it is supposed to cure.
A story for another day.
(fixed the odd typo or two)
?
) whereas in Europe one or two hundred years hardly impresses anymore than last week.