Ballycorus Leadmines

Ballycorus Leadmines is a disused Irish mine located in the Ballycorus region, on the slopes of Carrickgolligan, not far from the town of Shankill. This mine, now in ruins, once extracted lead and silver, and still attracts many visitors today to discover its imposing granite chimney…

History of Ballycorus Leadmines

A lead mine opened in 1805

The Ballycorus Leadmine – Joe_King – cc

The Ballycorus Leadmines mine was founded in 1805 by the Lead Mining Company of Ireland, to extract lead and silver from the site.

At the time, mining conditions were extremely precarious, and many miners devoted their entire lives to this mine. The latter ventured into often deep and dark underground galleries, digging and extracting ore in damp conditions, without seeing the sun all day long… Many miners suffered accidents or developed serious lung diseases as a result of these difficult working conditions…

As well as extracting lead and silver, the miners were also responsible for processing the ore they found on site, refining it and turning it into ingots. The mine operated for over 115 years, finally closing in the 1920s. Since then, the site has become a popular tourist attraction…

Visit Ballycorus Leadmines

A 24-metre-high granite chimney…

Visiting the site is free, and gives you access to the entire hill where the mine once stood…

All that remains of the site is a crumbled foundry, 2 underground galleries that are off-limits to visitors, and an imposing granite chimney rising to a height of over 24 metres. At the time, the chimney was used to discharge the smoke and gases produced by the ores during the refining process, and was maintained on a daily basis (workers periodically cleaned the lead sulfate deposits from the chimney walls).

This chimney was recognized as a unique model in Ireland, and was praised at the time for its inventiveness and efficiency, allowing smoke to be discharged at high altitude without disturbing neighboring dwellings.

You can admire its architecture, as well as its external steps, set into the chimney walls themselves. Although you can’t climb to the top, you can still enjoy the surrounding view, and discover other remains of this former disused mine… Put your imagination to work, and discover the precarious conditions of mining work in the past!