IONTOABH OIDHREACHT NA MIANADÓIREACHTA

There were three main ore bodies on this site - East Avoca, West Avoca and Cronebane. These were worked on both sides of the valley, making this site the second largest copper mine in Ireland. There is evidence to suggest that Avoca was worked for copper as long ago as the Bronze Age and possibly through medieval times. Its subsequent development shows how a mine can survive by turning to other minerals when the main deposits become exhausted. From the 12th century, the site was mainly producing iron but this had been exhausted by the end of the 17th century. Lead mining took over until about 1750, subsequently followed by copper mining until around 1812. Sulphur from the pyrites was produced between 1840-65, when the UK's major supply from Sicily was interrupted, and intermittently until 1949, especially during the two World Wars.

A modern operation between 1958-62 produced over 3 million tons of 0.6% copper ore (chalcopyrite) and another between 1970-82 produced 8 million tons. Over the years, small amounts of gold, silver and zinc have also been extracted but these were never significant. Some efforts were made in recent years to extract gold from the tips but not very successfully. Today, there are plans to turn the site into a mining heritage centre and we hope this succeeds.

The modern day remains of the tips and buildings are clearly visible from the road on both sides of the valley. All dangerous shafts and stopes have been fenced for safety. The following description is of the remains to the north-east but there are also others to the south-west which have not yet been visited. A track can be followed from the road all the way to the top of the hill and this is the suggested route. The first feature is the Deep Level on the left, which still has a good flow of mine drainage water.

Beyond this, take the track that turns off up to the left and below it is a flat area where the modern 850 level adit is sited, now blown in. A little further up the hill on the right is the engine house and chimney of Williams Shaft. This is in good condition but you may have to fight your way through undergrowth to get close to it.

The track continues to wind its way up the hill and, at the top, there is a wide area of dressing floors. Another engine house (Baronets) and chimney on the left may have been for operating crushing machinery, since the open Farmer's Shaft is some distance away on the right side of the road. Further on there are the wall foundations of a crusher on the left. The track now deviates to the right to follow the edge of a huge opencast, in the bottom of which some old men's workings have been intersected by the modern opencast workings. In the first large pit, there are two levels at the base of the pit. One was quite short but with a diggable cross-cut apparently leading in the direction of the other level. The second level was a cross-cut into the vein, which involved a climb down that went a reasonable distance with potential digs. There was an obvious level well up on the opposite face of this pit. Further up the hill, there was a much bigger opencast with at least three visible levels intersecting the far face. Back below the first pit (nearer the main road), there was a covered shaft which looked as though it had potential for descent.

See Cole's Memoir pages, 30, 84, 139, 144 for older history of the mines. See the paper by Vincent Gallagher (extreme right hand side of photo at ore bin above) in Biology and Environment, Proceedings of the Workshop on the Ecology of Old Mine Sites, for a detailed description of the mine site today, with full history of phases of working.

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Last modified: 05/02/07