Allihies

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View over Allihies village, Ballydonegan Bay on the left

Image:Allihies abandoned copper mine.JPG

Abandoned copper mine engine house above Allihies village

Allihies (Irish: Na hAilichí) is a coastal village in the west of County Cork, Province of Munster, Ireland. It is located about 1km of north Ballydonegan Bay on the western end of the Beara Peninsula between Cod's Head and Dursey Head.

Up to the 1930s, it was a copper-mining site. An attempt was made to restart mining in the late 1950s by a Canadian mining company, but this came to nought (see the Allihies Copper Mine Museum Web Site). The Village comprises three pubs, a post office and a general store. Its Irish name is Cluin, but this is seldom used. The primary tourist attractions are the two sandy beaches created by mine spoil and the vibrant pub life.

The Mountain Mine Man Engine House, located on the mountain above the village, has recently been conserved by the 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.

A museum commemorating the mining heritage of the village was opened in 2007 by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. 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 in the very productive copper mine.^[1] The jewel of Allihies is its spectacular engine house, 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 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.