Burren History Early Christian Period

At the beginning of the Early Christian Period (c. 500 AD) agriculture began to recover strongly from the lull it had experienced over the previous millennium of the Iron Age. Written records from this period reveal that tributes composed of beef cattle, cows, sheep, pigs and cloaks were paid to the kings of Ireland from the tribes of the Burren.

Agriculture at this time would have been boosted by the introduction of new technologies, particularly those relating to crop husbandry and milk processing. New crop species, tools and cultivation techniques were probably introduced to the Burren by monastic settlements such as those at Oughtmama and Corcomroe.

Significant advances in dairying were also taking place. Heretofore cows would have been used primarily for breeding and as a meat source, with many cattle butchered prior to the winter to provide food when the milk supply had dried up. However, with the advent of milk processing in the form of cheese and butter, cows could provide year round sustenance, a fact reflected in the perception of cows as ‘the new form of capital that produced interest in the form of milk, cheese and butter’ (McCormick, 1995).

To protect these highly coveted animals from marauding wolves and raiding parties, ring forts or cahers were built - over 500 in the Burren alone.  These Early Christian farmsteads again noticeably favour the Burren uplands in terms of location, though a number of earthen forts or ‘raths’ are also found in adjacent lowland areas.

At Cahercommaun ring fort – one of Ireland’s great stone forts - dated to c.800AD by a team from Harvard University in 1934 (Hencken, 1938), extensive evidence confirming the prevalence of a mixed farm economy was recovered. Bones of cattle, sheep, goats and red deer were identified, along with grinding (quern) stones for grain.

The large amount of spindle whorls that were also recovered suggests that the fort may even have served as a major wool-processing centre for the region (see Cotter, 1999). This evidence again attests to the historical importance of dairying and sheep husbandry in a land often misguidedly associated exclusively with the winter grazing of store cattle.

It is interesting to note that many early monastic sites in the Burren, such as Oughtmama (c.1000AD) and Corcomroe (c. 1200AD), were strategically located between upland and lowland areas, reflecting the dual requirements of the mixed farm economy – grazing and tillage – of this time. It was only during this Early Christian period that lowland areas in the Burren began to be seriously exploited, most likely to meet the needs of tillage production that the uplands could not provide.

From this period onward, the centre of activity appears to have gradually shifted to these fertile lowlands. It is noteworthy that ecclesiastical sites, of which the Burren is said to contain the densest concentration in the country, are predominantly located on areas with the richest soils, in contrast with the upland bias of previous constructions, (Mytum, 1982, Ní Ghabhláin, 1995).