Ireland is mostly a rocky island composed of Carboniferous limestone formed about 370 million years ago.
At that time, Ireland was part of a shallow sea between two land masses near the equator.
These rocks extracted from the earth became the most commonly used building material for the Irish population.
Particularly ubiquitous are the stone walls that criss-cross the country.
The stones for these walls are usually unearthed from the field itself.
The walls are nothing more than boulders piled on top of each other without mortar.
They are often quite low and not very stable because of which they need constant maintenance.
Animals who have learned from experience that they collapse rather easily keep themselves away from the walls.
The largest island is Inishmore also known as Aranmore.
The middle and second-largest is Inishmaan and the smallest and most eastern is Inisheer.
