Allihies
Encyclopedia
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. The largest village in the parish is Cluin, but is often mistakenly referred to by the name of the surrounding parish. Allihies Parish is located on the western tip of the Béara Peninsula
Beara Peninsula
The Beara Peninsula is a peninsula on the south-west coast of Ireland, bounded between the Kenmare "river" to the north side and Bantry Bay to the south. It has two mountain ranges running down its centre: the Caha Mountains and the Slieve Miskish Mountains...
and stretches between Cod's Head to the North West and Dursey Island to the South West.
History of copper mining
From the Bronze ageBronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
up to the 1870s the area was a site of copper-mining. The most commercial and productive period being between 1812 and 1912 when 297,000 tons of ore were recorded as passing through Swansea from Allihies mines. An attempt was made to restart mining in the late 1950s by a Canadian mining company, but was not progressed.
The most prominent reminder of Allihies' mining heritage is the engine house located on the mountain above the village and installed by the noted Cornish engineers Michael Loam and Son
Michael Loam
Michael Loam was a Cornish engineer who introduced the first man engine into the UK....
in 1862. The area saw large-scale emigration when the mine closed following a fall in the worldwide price of copper. Many miners went to Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
and the town has many families who trace their ancestry back to Allihies.
The mountain mine man engine house has recently been conserved by the Mining Heritage Trust of Ireland. The finished conservation project and some of the underground mine workings were featured in a TV programme "Townlands" on RTÉ One
RTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
in 2005.
Festivals
The annual Allihies Festival traditionally takes place on the 15th of August. It usually features horse racing - a practice probably dating from the time of more widespread use of horses and ponies in the copper mining industry. It takes place in a setting between the ocean and the surrounding mountains. The festivities now extend through the week and feature music, bale tossing and other events.In 2008-9 the village also hosted the Michael Dwyer Festival of Traditional Irish music, which commemorates the life of a Beara musician and composer.
Presidential Visits
In 2007 the parish was visited by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleeseMary McAleese
Mary Patricia McAleese served as the eighth President of Ireland from 1997 to 2011. She was the second female president and was first elected in 1997 succeeding Mary Robinson, making McAleese the world's first woman to succeed another as president. She was re-elected unopposed for a second term in...
for the opening of the museum, commemorating the area's mining heritage. The museum is housed in the chapel built by Cornish miners in 1845. The rich veins of copper at Allihies were discovered in 1812 and worked until 1884 and many Cornish
Cornish people
The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...
mine captains, miners and craftsmen were employed alongside Irish people.
The village also attracted attention in June 1990 as having been deliberately chosen as one of the first places that Mary Robinson
Mary Robinson
Mary Therese Winifred Robinson served as the seventh, and first female, President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. She first rose to prominence as an academic, barrister, campaigner and member of the Irish Senate...
visited in her successful campaign for election as President of Ireland
President of Ireland
The President of Ireland is the head of state of Ireland. The President is usually directly elected by the people for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the President does exercise certain limited powers with absolute...
.
See also
- Beara PeninsulaBeara PeninsulaThe Beara Peninsula is a peninsula on the south-west coast of Ireland, bounded between the Kenmare "river" to the north side and Bantry Bay to the south. It has two mountain ranges running down its centre: the Caha Mountains and the Slieve Miskish Mountains...
- List of towns and villages in Ireland