Coal mining has left a significant legacy of industrial buildings and landscape features in an otherwise predominantly agricultural environment in Co. Tipperary, according to Dr. Richard Clutterbuck, a landscape archaeologist who created a Slieveardagh coal mining heritage map.
Coal deposits in the Slieveardagh hills of east Tipperary consist of a very high quality but fractured and thin layers of anthracite which outcrop on the edges of the uplands, he said.
It is believed that Danish settlers mined coal there in the 11th century. According to the Tipperary mines website, the last commercial mines closed in 1989.
Over 500 features associated with coal mining from the 19th to the 20th century have been identified by Dr. Clutterbuck and the local community including individual ‘basset’ pits, chimneys and engine houses, collieries, managers’ residences, miners’ cottages and the first mining village in Ireland, built at Mardyke in the 1820s.
Coal attracted landlords and mining companies, skilled workers and revolutionaries. The presence of coal, the mines and the opportunity for lucrative work was a significant factor in how the historic landscape and social fabric of Slieveardagh formed.
The health implications for the miners were serious as many men died young or endured very poor health.
A National Heritage Week event in August focused on Copper Steeple, the coal miners’ chimney at Ballingarry Lower, Thurles.
The Slieveardagh mining group and miners hosted a gathering at the steeple field and encouraged visitors to connect with Slieveardagh’s coal mining past.
The group learned about culm balls as a domestic fuel and also as an addition to traditional lime mortar.
The gathering visited the 29m high chimney, the beacon to the area’s mining past, and were updated on the journey now underway to restore Copper Steeple – named because it is in Copper townland and steeple because of its height – which now has scaffold around it to facilitate the repair of the top of the chimney.
The stonemasons will be at work there for another week, according to the Slieveardagh mining group.
The Heritage Council awarded a grant towards the repair and consolidation of the 160-year-old ventilation shaft/chimney.
“This project will keep the Steeple standing in memory of the miners and coalmining tradition in the area,” said Katy Goodhue of the Slieveardagh Mining Group.
“The area will also soon have a website in the Community Archive Network to continue sharing the stories of our heritage.
“Collecting memories of the mining heritage is also underway for a new book on the mines and miners of the area. We are proud of our heritage, and want the history of the coalmines remembered and available for future generations,” Dr. Clutterbuck said.