The Burren is located mainly in North Clare with a small portion of it in South Galway in the Kinvara area and is 250 km in size.  The Burren comes from the word Boirean which means rocky place and that is what it is.  The Burren is a huge area of bare limestone rock.

The limestone was formed over 350 million years ago.  It is an organic sedimentary rock meaning it is made up of organic materials and sediments.  When Ireland lay close to the equator and was a low warm shallow sea.  These waters supported the life of many organisms which had calcium carbonate shells and bones.    When the aquatic life would die their bodies would fall to the sea bed.  The calcium carbonate in their bones and shells would collect and build up over time into massive depts.  As the weight of the over lying sediments built up they caused the compression and cementation of the below sediments.  This is known as lithification.
The sea bed was uplifted due to folding of the plates and this caused the limestone to rise above level.  The now visible limestone was once covered by more limestone and covered by a shale.  But due to weathering and glaciation which scraped the shale and soils away to reveal the bare limestone rock.  Now that the limestone was bare it was victim to weathering from the rain.  Rain falls from the sky and as it does it collects carbon dioxide.  This forms a weak carbonic acid.  When it hits the limestone it reacts.  The reaction is between the carbonic acid and the calcium carbonate turning the calcium carbonate into calcium bicarbonate which is washed away leading to erosion.  If the acid works down into the cracks they begin to widen and become deep long holes called grikes.  They divide huge slabs of limestone called clints and this gives you the classic limestone pavement.

The Burren is famous for its flora and fauna.  It boasts a wide range of flowers which grow no were else side by side in the world.  Plants that grow here can also be found in the Mediterranean, Artic and Alps.
The farming methods is also very special to the area.  With cattle being grazed high up in the hills during the winter and broth down to the lower pastures in the Summer months.  This has helped create the landscape that we see today.