Allihies

Allihies, Beara, Co Cork

Allihies (Irish place name|Na hAilichí) is a coastal village in the west of County Cork, Province of Munster, Ireland. (Actually named Cluin - but commonly referred to by the name of the surrounding parish). It is located about 1km of north Ballydonegan Bay on the western end of the Beara Peninsula between Cod's Head and Dursey Head.The Village comprises three pubs, a post office and a general store. The primary tourist attractions are the sandy beach created by mine spoil and the vibrant pub life.

Copper Mining

From the Bronze age up to the 1870s it was a site of copper-mining . An attempt was made to restart mining in the late 1950s by a Canadian mining company, but this came to nothing (see the Allihies Copper Mine Museum [http://www.acmm.ie ACMM Web Site] ).

The jewel of Allihies mining heritage is its spectacular engine house located on the mountain above the village and installed by the famous Cornish engineers Michael Loam and Son in 1862. The area saw a massive emigration when the mine closed due to a fall in price of copper worldwide. Many miners went to Butte, Montana 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 [http://www.mhti.com Mining Heritage Trust of Ireland] . The finished conservation project and some of the underground mine workings were features in a TV programme "Townlands" on RTÉ One in 2005.

Presidential Visits

The village attracted attention in June 1990 (and even more so in retrospective assessments) as having been deliberately chosen as one of the first places that Mary Robinson visited in her successful campaign for election as President of Ireland.

Again in 2007, this small village attracted a presidential visit by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese for the opening of the museum, commemorating the 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 mine captains, miners and craftsmen were employed alongside Irish people in the very productive copper mine.

Festivals

2008 will see this small village host the [http://www.michaeldwyerfestival.beara.ie/ 10th Michael Dwyer Festival] of traditional Irish music which commemorates the life of a local musician and composer. The annual Allihies Festival on the 15th of August continues a long tradition that features horse racing in a spectacular setting between the ocean and the surrounding mountains.

ee also

* Beara Peninsula
* Irish presidential election, 1990.
* List of towns in Ireland

References

* O'Leary & Burke "Mary Robinson: The Authorised Biography" (Dublin, 1998) p 126

External links

* [http://homepage.eircom.net/~allihies Allihies village web site.]
* [http://acmm.ie Allihies Copper Mine Museum web site.]
* [http://www.beara.ie Beara Independent community site with extensive local links.]
* [http://www.bearalink.com Beara web guide.]
* [http://www.bearatourism.com Beara Tourism web site.]
* [http://www.bearainfo.com Beara Information Resource site.]
* [http://www.corkancestors.com/AllihiesEyeries.htm Cork Ancestors Allihies/Eyeries.]