Brigid in the ruins of the crushing house with the spoil heaps of granite in the background

Andrew at the 'Jig Table' where the granite and lead were sorted.

In 1948 mining started and the mines were closed in 1957 so they were open for nine years and according to Robert Carter at that time you got bigger money in the mines than you would have got on working for Wicklow County Council or in the forestry back then. A rough guess was that 75 people worked in the mines at that time. At the beginning 50 people worked in the mines, 50-75 at the busiest and 75 when it closed. You had to be 16 years old  to start working at the mines. There would be a lot of granite in the mines and then lead in the granite.  It was hard work getting lead out of the mines. When the mine closed in 1957 some of the miners went to England to look for work. All of the miners were very disappointed and sad because they got more money working up at the mines than on the council. The miners had many different jobs to do like: crushing the granite to get out the lead, pushing a wagon out of the mine with the lead ore, planting the dynamite and many more. The miners dug out a tunnel called " Fox Rock Tunnel " by hand and the measurement was 7ft by 4ft and it was three quarters of a mile long roughly from the mines down to the dam. 

Mine shaft with the wagon of ore on the way out to be crushed and sorted.