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The Arigna Mining Experience is a centre dedicated to the
With the closure of the mine in the 1990s, the site was redeveloped as a cultural destination. The tour includes a visit to the mines, with many of the tour guides being former miners. The tours bring visitors down into the mining main tunnel, which was only four feet high when it was used as a mine, but has been widened and deepened to allow for public access. As with the collections, the tour tells the social history of the mine, how miners worked, the rituals and customs of the mine, as well as its central role as the main employer in the area. The site also retains some spoil heaps, which demonstrate the scale of the mining that was taking place during the sites operation.
Much of the collections consist of mining paraphernalia dating from across the span of the mines activity. The exhibitions on the geology of the area cover the different formations that are found there, including
Discover IrelandIrish Museums Association
{{coord, 54.076614, N, 8.117523, W, type:landmark_region:IE, display=title Buildings and structures in County Roscommon History of County Roscommon Local museums in the Republic of Ireland Museums established in 2003 2003 establishments in Ireland
coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
history of Arigna
Arigna (, formerly ''Cairn An Ailt''), is a village in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is near Lough Allen (on the Shannon-Erne Waterway), on a designated scenic route between Keadue and Sliabh an Iarainn. Arigna is situated in Kilronan Parish ...
over a period of 400 years, local geology and coal, as well as new forms of renewable energy. It is Ireland's first museum dedicated to coal mining.
History
The history of mining in Arigna goes back to the 1700s, where coal was extracted from one of the narrowest seams known. Opened in the 1600s by Charles Coote, it changed ownership many times, including theUnited Irishmen
The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...
the O'Reilly brothers, and then by local families. The coal was extracted originally for use in the processing of iron ore, as both nearby Sliabh an Iarainn
Sliabh an Iarainn (Irish for "iron mountain"), anglicized Slieve Anierin, is a mountain in County Leitrim, Ireland. It rises to and lies east of Lough Allen and northeast of Drumshanbo. Its present form evolved from the southwestward movement ...
and the Arigna River contain deposits the ore. Dublin's Ha'penny Bridge
The Ha'penny Bridge ( ; , or ''Droichead na Life''), known later for a time as the ''Penny Ha'penny Bridge'', and officially the Liffey Bridge, is a pedestrian bridge built in May 1816 over the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland. Made of cast i ...
is made of Arigna iron. The mine served a purpose-built ESB station, which closed with the mine, when in 1992 the coal ran out.
Exhibitions and tour
With the closure of the mine in the 1990s, the site was redeveloped as a cultural destination. The tour includes a visit to the mines, with many of the tour guides being former miners. The tours bring visitors down into the mining main tunnel, which was only four feet high when it was used as a mine, but has been widened and deepened to allow for public access. As with the collections, the tour tells the social history of the mine, how miners worked, the rituals and customs of the mine, as well as its central role as the main employer in the area. The site also retains some spoil heaps, which demonstrate the scale of the mining that was taking place during the sites operation.
Much of the collections consist of mining paraphernalia dating from across the span of the mines activity. The exhibitions on the geology of the area cover the different formations that are found there, including sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
s, siltstone
Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...
s, mudstone
Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology. ...
s and coal measures
In lithostratigraphy, the coal measures are the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. In the United Kingdom, the Coal Measures Group consists of the Upper Coal Measures Formation, the Middle Coal Measures Formation and the Lower Coal ...
.
References
External links
Discover Ireland
{{coord, 54.076614, N, 8.117523, W, type:landmark_region:IE, display=title Buildings and structures in County Roscommon History of County Roscommon Local museums in the Republic of Ireland Museums established in 2003 2003 establishments in Ireland