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Botany In Clare

indo — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:20:43 +0000

Botany

The areas of bare limestone which form a characteristic feature of certain tracts, especially in Clare and Galway, harbour one of the most remarkable floras to be found in Ireland. This formation and its accompanying vegetation attain their most striking expression on the hills of the Burren district in northern Clare (Accommodation, Clare, Ireland). Here, over miles of hill and valley, nothing but bare grey rock is to be seen, its innumerable joints worn by weather into a criss-cross of deep fissures which harbour a luxuriant vegetation. This naked ground descends the hills, sweeping down on the southward into central Clare, and on the north surrounding the head of Galway Bay and fringing Lough Corrib and Lough Mask, only ceasing at Lough Carra in Mayo. Seaward it occupies in most pronounced form the Aran Islands. Its flora is distinct from that of any other tract in Ireland, being remarkable both for the great abundance of certain plants which usually are locally and sparingly distributed, and for the occurrence, often also in great profusion, of many rare plants, usually of distinctly southern or northern type. A list of the abundant species which immediately impress the eye, and one or other of which in places form the bulk of the vegetation, will include: Asperula cynanchica Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi Gentiana verna Euphrasia Sahsburgensis Scslcria cccrulea Scolopendrium vulgare Ceterach officinarum. Among other species which are less widespread, though many of them attain an abundant development locally, are : Ajuga pyramidalis Taxus baccata Juniperus nana Spiranthes autumnaiis Epipactis atro-rubens Ophrvs muscifera Neotinea intacta Adiantum Capillus-Vencris. It will be observed that in spite of an extraordinary mixture of types, the dominant note of this assemblage is alpine-arctic. Sheets of the Dryas, Arctostaphylos, Gentian, and Scsleria cover the ground, all descending to sea-level, and this in a mild area where frost and snow are very rare. Growing with these we find such southern types as Neotinea intacta and Adiantum Capillus-Veneris, neither of them known elsewhere from so high a latitude, the first having its nearest station in the Mediterranean, the other being a southern species of very wide range. No such extraordinary assemblage of plants is to be found elsewhere in the British Isles.

Geology

In the northern part of Clare (Self Catering, Clare, Ireland) the magnificent terraced mountains of the Burren are carved out of horizontally bedded limestone. This rock is also exposed in a band some 12 miles wide running south through and to the east of Ennis and reaching the Shannon. South and west of the limestone, area are large exposures of Carboniferous sandstone. Perhaps the most striking of these is to be found in the long range of the cliffs of Moher. These vertical cliffs of horizontally bedded sandstone are perhaps the finest in the British Isles. At the northern end, near O’Briens Tower, one may lie on the edge of the cliff and drop a pebble into the Atlantic 600 ft. below. At Kilkee we have also magnificent cliff scenery, and here some of the surfaces of the sandstones exhibit excellent examples of ripple marks. In North Clare we have a large area of bare limestone in which meteoric agencies have carved out the magnificent natural terraces of the Burren. Drifts occur in the valleys and are largely made up of limestone detritus, with some pebbles and blocks of Galway granite. Further south limestone, blocks are associated with sandstone and shale.

Topography

North of Slieve Bernagh, in Clare (Holiday Homes, Clare, Ireland), there is a large area of bleak hilly country rising here and there to well over 1000 ft., known as Slieve Aughty. All the hill-groups which have been mentioned so far are more or less isolated uplands surrounded by limestone lowlands, and formed of older slates and sandstones (Silurian or Devonian) which have been pushed up and now impend, dark and heathery, over the limestone grasslands.

For nearly three-quarters of its periphery Clare is bordered by water - the Atlantic along its extended western side, and by the
Shannon and its great estuary on the east and south. The Atlantic coast is bare and mostly cliff-bound, with no shelter for ships between Galway Bay and the
Shannon. In the north, the strange, bare limestone hills of the Burren, already described overlook the ocean and these naked limestones continue into the centre, of the county, where there are many low lying lakes. Coal measures, forming bleak, treeless hills, cover much of the west, the centre is a low-lying plain of limestone. The east is fertile, and pleasantly diversified with woods and lakes, valleys and hills - the last rising to 1746 ft. in Slieve Bernagh, where the county fronts Lough Derg. The Aran Islands, lying across the entrance of Galway Bay , belong geologically to Clare (Holiday Cottages, Clare, Ireland), being shelves of limestone rock forming a continuation of the limestone beds of Burren but politically they belong to Co. Galway.

Ennis, the assize town, stands on the low ground in the centre of the county, on the River Fergus, above the head of its broad, shallow, island-studded estuary. Kilrush is on the Shannon estuary near its mouth. A few miles to the west, Kilkee, a favourite seaside resort, faces the open Atlantic. Killaloe is beautifully placed on the
Shannon at the foot of Lough Derg, where the river plunges through the interesting gorge. It was an important ecclesiastical centre in old days. Ennistymon and Miltown Malbay are close to the west coast. Lisdoonvarna, towards the north, has mineral springs, and is a well-known health resort.

Zoology

The Burren district in Clare (Holiday Apartments, Clare, Ireland) is famous for the race of enormous Helix nemoralis that lives in the chinks of its limestone rocks. These resemble the German Pleistocene form H. tonnensis, Sandberger. Other interesting Munster species are: Hyalinia lucida (widespread, except in the west), Zonitoides excavatus (throughout the province, off the limestone), Helicella barbara (widespread, both on the coast and inland), Hygromia granulata (locally plentiful), Acanthinula lamellata (in every county), Cacilioidcs acicula (local), Pupa anglica (in every county), Vertigo Lilljeborgi (Lough Allua, W. Cork, very rare), V. pusilla (very local), Succinea oblonga (Kerry, Cork, Tipperary, Clare), Paludestrina confusa (estuaries of the Shannon, Suir and Barrow), Acicula lineata (widespread), Margaritana margaritifera (local).

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Zoology In Clare

indo — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:30:50 +0000

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History In Clare

indo — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:30:32 +0000

The territorial divisions of Munster were very numerous, and among them were the Dall gCais (pronounced Daul Gash) in Tuadh-Mumha, corresponding to the modern county of Clare. This was the sect to which the king Brian Boroimhe belonged. They were a Munster people who conquered and occupied this district. Until that event it had been reckoned to Connaught. The Viking conquerors were driven out of Clare by Brian Boru, who in turn reigned over the county. The Anglo-Normans were unable to successfully rule the area, and the later British did not become prominent before Murrough OBrien became the Earl of Thomond.Clare (Holiday Apartments, Clare, Ireland) was hit hard during the Great Famine, and much of its population left Ireland for a better life abroad. The name of County Clare is derived from the Gaelic word, An Clar, which means the plain. It is known as The Banner County, due to its renown for revolutionary activity during the struggle for equal rights for the indigenous Irish Catholic population.

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Architecture In Clare

indo — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:30:23 +0000

Ennis Friary, Co. Clare (Bed and Breakfasts, Clare, Ireland), is worthy of mention, not so much on account of its architectural interest as for the remarkable monuments that it contains. The monastery was founded in the first half of the thirteenth century by Donnchadh Cairbrech O Briain, King of Thomond, for Friars Minor. It was enlarged by Toirrdhealbhach O Briain at the end of the thirteenth century, and was further enlarged in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The ruins of the church consist of a chancel and nave with a lofty tower at their junction. The most important of the monuments is the so-called Royal or MacMahon tomb, which is built against the north wall of the chancel near the east gable. It was at one time a mere heap of stones, but the sculptured slabs were rebuilt about 1843. The carved slabs have been described as being probably the finest and most spirited series of late fifteenth-century carvings of the Passion in our Irish monasteries. The subjects include, the Betrayal of our Lord, the Flagellation, the Crucifixion, the Entombment, and Resurrection. The ancient canopy of this tomb fell down in recent times, and a modern one, imitated from that of the Inchiquin tomb, was erected in its place. The second canopied tomb stands against the south wall of the chancel and is probably of late fifteenth century date. It covers the graves of King Toirrdheallbach; Cu Meadha Mac Conmara; and some of the Lords Inchiquin. It is decorated with some gracefully carved floral designs.

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