Mine - copper

The National Monuments Service's description

6m N of another mine (CO139-047---), on an E-facing rock scarp. It is one of 31 copper mines belonging to Mount Gabriel Prehistoric mining complex (CO139-026001-). It was recorded by Duffy (1929, unpublished field sheets, Geological Survey of Ireland) and Jackson (1968). The mine was surveyed and drained in 1984. It consisted in a near-horizontal working driven 284° into the base of the rock face (H c. 6-7m). A small amount of rubble infill was removed from the entrance area, while waterlogged rubble infill of unknown thickness was recorded in the interior of the mine, with stone mauls exposed on the surface of the infill. The working was accessible over c. 3.6m from the entrance (Wth 1.3m; H 0.6m), the interior increasing in height slightly (Wth 1.6m; H 0.9m), with the hanging wall presenting a smooth concave profile. The spoil dump outside the entrance (diam. c. 3-4m; H < 1m) was spread with material from the adjacent mine (CO139-047---). (O'Brien 1987, and 1994, 303-4: mine 2).

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).

Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

Image attached
CO139-048----_01: Interior of the mine (in O'Brien 1994, 304).

References

Jackson, J.S. 1968 Bronze Age copper mines on Mount Gabriel, west County Cork, Ireland. Arch. Austriaca 43, 92-103.

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 Unpublished Ph.D. thesis.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.