"A Good Place to Die"
Motoring Ireland's rugged, windswept County Clare...
by Bill Bonner
"Ireland is a good place to die."
~ Elizabeth Bowen
Youghal, Ireland - This is perhaps not the best season to visit County Clare in Ireland. The wind blows. The rain comes in torrents. It is foggy in the morning. And at midday. And the evening too. At least, that was our experience when we explored the Burren yesterday.
We were ‘motoring’ through County Clare, taking in the sights…reading up on the O’Briens…and trying to keep dry. “Motoring” used to be much more common. Visitors drove on small roads, slowly, stopping at local restaurants and bars along the way. Nowadays, the highways have made motoring obsolete. People drive to get somewhere as fast as possible. And many of the cheerful little pubs and eateries have closed down. But in this part of Ireland, motoring is about all you can do.
To put our trip in further context, Elizabeth is a curious and intrepid traveler. Informed that there is a standing stone or a fallen church somewhere in yon cow pasture, she pulls on her boots and sets off…no matter the weather. And so it was that we discovered one of the most appealing graveyards in Ireland, down the hill and across a field from the castle, known as Dysert O’Dea.
The Burren: The castle itself was closed; it is not the tourist season. But in the distance…over hill and dale…through the fog…we glimpsed the unroofed church. So, down a gravel path we went…then over a stone wall…through a very squishy cattle field…and finally, over another stone wall, with slippery stepping stones jutting out from the sides, to the abandoned complex.
The graveyard was bordered on all sides by the stone wall. It was small enough so trees around the edges must provide shade in the summer. Some of the grave stones were ancient and unreadable. Some, with celtic crosses, leaned in one direction or another. Fresher bodies must have been planted there in the last 30 years. “How lovely…it almost makes us want to die,” we mumbled to ourselves, hoping not to be taken seriously.
The headstones – McNally, McNulty, McNeill – all the Micks and Paddies were there…hundreds of years’ worth of them…lying peacefully and gracefully in the little stone-walled graveyard.
The church nearby was in ruins. So was a round tower next to it. Round towers were among the earliest Christian edifices…perhaps intended to save the monks and their treasures from Viking raiders. This one was part of a monastery dating to the 12th century, largely destroyed by Cromwell’s army in the 17th century.
We had been driving along frightfully narrow roads through the Burren. When we saw a car approaching from the opposite direction, we looked for a place to pull over. The roads are rarely wide enough for two cars to pass normally. Pulling over inevitably put us into the mud. Fortunately, our old Nissan Patrol has 4-wheel-drive.
The Burren lies on the West coast of Ireland not too far from Shannon airport. It is a land of surprises…and curiosities. It looks completely desolate, in many parts. And yet…for example, you drive for miles without encountering a sign of civilization and arrive at a ‘perfumery.’ Yes, stuck in the middle of what seems like a vast and unrelenting wilderness is a small business fabricating essences…and a very welcome tea room.
The Burren is a land of lakes and loughs, mountains, meadows, and swamps. Much of it is little more than barren rock. And yet, there are cattle or sheep grazing almost everywhere. And the river valleys have some of the most fertile soil in the country. The fields seem too hilly, too stony, too small to be very productive, but the farms appear to be prosperous.
Among the sites we visited was a dolmen at Poulnabrone (the pit of sorrow). Its exact purpose is unknown, and might have varied over the centuries, but it was surely the final resting place of several people, whose bones have been unearthed, from 4,000 – 5,000 years ago. We looked at it through the narrow openings of our hooded rain jackets…warmed by woolen sweaters underneath…wondering why ancient people would have chosen such a desolate spot.
Hunters and Farmers: “It was not always so desolate,” explained a helpful guide. “There used to be trees covering much of the land. We believe the first settlers cut them down…for firewood…or grazing land. And then, the soil here was always very thin. It washed away or blew away over the centuries. That’s why it is so barren today.”
Our guide was a young woman from Pittsburgh. Fresh faced…with a pleasant manner, she began by asking us if we were sure we wanted to go on the tour. The wind had picked up. The rain was not so much coming down…as in a hurry to get somewhere to the South…and ready to knock over anyone who got in its way.
Hearing that we were nevertheless game for the tour, she put on her parka and led us forth. She led us to a round fort called Caherconnell. Thick walls of stone were piled up (no mortar was used) about 10 feet high and 6 feet thick around a collection of interior low stone walls, all that was left of what once were houses, barns and workshops. “This is one of the houses inside the enclosure,” she explained, making a sweeping gesture across the grass. “As many as 20 to 30 people lived in this area (about the size of a modern bedroom).”
She had participated in archeological digs on the site over the last three years. They discovered that the place was built on a much earlier site in about the 10th century. That makes it fairly recent. People have lived in Ireland for about 10,000 years – first as hunters, chasing herds of reindeer…later, as farmers, with small fields of grain and small herds of cattle or sheep.
Timeless Battles: Irish legend (perhaps true!) tells us that the original residents of Ireland were known as the Firbolg and the Tuatha De Danann. Then, according to the ‘16th century scholar’ O’Flaherty, the island was invaded by the ‘Milesians,’ Celtic peoples from Northern Spain.
Ireland has a long history, filled with many pits of sorrow. “It is amazing how much war people are ready to put up with,” Elizabeth began a reflection. “Each invasion set off hundreds of years of warfare. The English invasion lasted off and on from the 12th century to the 18th century…accompanied by mass slaughters on both sides. And even when the country was supposedly at peace, the local warlords, and chiefs went at it…murdering each other. It’s amazing any of us survived.”
In Caherconnell, also, they discovered older graves – from about the 6th century – of a woman and two children – whom they believe got a Christian burial. Another surprise was the discovery of objects that came from far away. A bead of amber, for example, probably came from the Baltic. Pins looked as though they were made in France. Even many centuries ago, and even at what have been the western-most edge of European civilization, trade continued.
A major attraction in County Clare is south of the Burren, Bunratty Castle. It was built near the Shannon estuary by the De Clare family in the 13th century. They were a Norman family, who were attacked periodically by the O’Brien clan. The castle was destroyed…and then rebuilt. But in 1318 Richard De Clare was killed in battle. His wife, hearing of his death, burned the castle…and the whole town around it. She left for England; the family never returned. But the fighting continued. A new castle was built and armies sent from England to subdue the MacCarthys and MacNamaras. One war after another. Siege. Battle. Butchery. Destruction. The Confederate Wars…Cromwell…Williamites…a rising and a beating down.
And there it is…still there. Castle Bunratty. The castle was a ruin until it was purchased by an Anglo-Irish couple in 1956 who decided to restore it. Today, it is a marvelous place to explore a medieval castle, but also to see local houses and workshops as they would have been hundreds of years ago. We stayed at another castle – Dromoland – converted into a fine hotel/resort. Even with the rain coming down outside, the castle is warm and comfortable."
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