Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Mine - copper
Skeagh (carbery West (w.d) By.), County Cork, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Skeagh (carbery West (w.d) By.)
- County
- Cork
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Coordinates
- 51.55516, -9.53789
- SMR number
- CO139-026005-
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1790 "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
S of the Skeagh-Mt. Gabriel townland boundary, some 50m S of two other mines (CO139-026003- and CO139-026004-) on a lower extension of the same E-facing scarp face. It is one of 31 copper mines belonging to Mount Gabriel Prehistoric mining complex (CO139-026001-). On inspection in 1984 this mine consisted in an infilled working driven 270° into the base of an E-facing rock scarp. The interior was waterlogged with probable peat deposit, and it was not excavated. It was accessible for a length of c. 4m, though the size of the poil mound associated with the mine suggests it was a lot larger. Outside the entrance (Wth 4.6m; H 1.4m) was a large, semi-circular spoil dump (21m N-S; 12m E-W), covering c. 330m² to unknown depth. Slight erosion on the southern periphery exposed stone mauls fragments. (O'Brien 1987 and 1994, 336: mine 20)
This is a National Monument in State Care.
The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992) and William O’Brien’s monograph ‘Mount Gabriel, Bronze Age mining in Ireland’ (Galway: Galway University Press, 1994).
Photograph attached
CO139-026005-_01: Mine site (in O'Brien 1994, 340).
CO139-026005-_02: Interior of mine (in O'Brien 1994, 341)
Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009
References
O'Brien, W. 1994 Mount Gabriel: Bronze Age mining in Ireland. Galway University Press.
O'Brien, W. 1987 Primitive copper mining in south-west Ireland, 3 vols. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. University College, Cork.
Nearby in the register
- Mine - copperunder 1 mi
- Mine - copperunder 1 mi
- Mine - copperunder 1 mi
- Mine - copperunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.