The Mountain Copper Mine Man Engine House, Cloan, overlooking the village of Allihies, Ireland
The Man Engine was erected in 1862 and cotained a Cornish Style steam engine that operated a pump and the Man Engine. This Man Engine House is unique to Ireland being the only purpose built one for a mine in the World. It is an unusual piece of machinery designed in Cornwall, England, UK to allow the miners to quickly descend and ascend into the mine. The machinery consisted of a long wooden rod extended down the length of the shaft which was over 1000 feet long. It was worked by a steam engine on the surface which oscillated or moved up and down on each stroke of the engine. Timber steps were attached to the rod which allowed the miners to step onto the rod and be lifted up or down the distance of the stroke. Less than 20 Cornish Man Engines were ever built anywhere in the World and this is the best preserved example. Copper has been mined in this remote coastal area on and off since the Bronze Age. In 1811 a local landowner brought over mining engineers from Cornwall to assess the potential of the copper rich veins of ore which were visible on the surface. By 1822 over 600 people worked the mines around Allihies but the mining became less in the late 19th century and stopped altogether in 1930s when it became uneconomic to extract more ore due to the difficult and rugged terrain. However, one million tons of extracted ore had yielded up almost 300,000 tons of copper and earned the landowning family a small fortune.
Size: 5906px × 3937px
Location: Beara Peninsula, Cloan, Allihies, Ireland, EU, Eire, South West County Cork,
Photo credit: © GS International / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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