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The history of Ireland is the history of cattle. Men were herding cattle on the landscape of Ireland more than 6,000 years ago. No one can say with confidence when the stone fences considered so wonderfully Irish today were first laid, but it is understood to have been long ago with people who needed to move cattle from one location to another through the vast forests that once dominated this landscape. Indeed, the Irish word for a road, bohreen, literally means ‘where cattle pass.’ The fences may have also served as boundaries for clan or family territories. Whatever their considerations may have been, these people came up with a remarkably efficient way to control the movement of large herds of hearty beasts when manpower was limited and the terrain was unsuited for herding with horses.

Stone fences are found all over Ireland, but those that snake and course their way across the Burren are like no other—not in Ireland and perhaps not like fences found anywhere else in the world. Built of limestone pavements, the stones are long, relatively thin rectangles set upright instead of flat on the ground. When you look at them broadside, especially on a backlit ridge where light shows through, they resemble a net, and the stones, placed as they are end-on-end, appear to mesh much like the nets they resemble. Nevertheless, time and the elements have proven this method stronger than any other. The net-like mesh created by the vertical stacking allows the harshest of winds to pass through while animals can’t easily push them over. I’ve also been told that not everyone can build them, that it does require a special talent, but, whether set fresh by a craftsman or made right again by replacing a fallen stone or two, the walls are clearly the source of much pride among the people.