industrialheritageireland.info

As an Athiest, I don't routinely provide publicity for religious sites. However, this page caught my eye.

I am taking this one as tongue in cheek, but nonetheless, make of it what you may!

The BBC has reported on plans to celebrate Swansea's former status as the copper smelting capital of the world. Read the history of any Irish copper mine and the shipment of ore to Swansea for smelting will be part of it.

The recent edition of Science Spin has an excellent article on the history of mining in Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.

I came upon this blogpost today and it is generally OK, except that the first mythbust contains a myth. Arthur Guinness starting brewing in 1759 at St James Gate, but did not brew porter, i.e. Guinness, until 1776.

This is a link to the record of the Northern Ireland Assembly in which a question concerning the industrial heritage of Northern Ireland arose.

I have added photographs I took last March of Parkmore Station in Co. Antrim. This was the final passenger station on what was originally a mineral line from Ballymena to Retreat. When the B&NCR took it over, they developed the line for tourist traffic and passenger trains ran as far as Parkmore.

As an early adopter of concrete, the station building was built of this material. It is now, sadly, derelict and probably beyond redemption.

Photos can be viewed here.

The Irish Times today reported that the redevelopment of Greystones Harbour is in trouble, due to the collapse of the housing market. Needless to say, the bits that benefit the developer will continue, but the social bits will be cancelled, sorry, deferred.

No chance of them putting the railway bridge back in its original place, is there?

This is a very interesting site, attempting to collate a copy of all relevant railway relevant reports such as accident reports, Acts of Parliament, Royal Commissions etc. Whilst primarily aimed at Britain, it covers the island of Ireland also (up to and including the modern day).

Update 26th February 2010: Not as comprehensive as I thought. An arbitrary decision by the site owners means 'terrorism' related incidents are not recorded. So scrap the entire Civil War in Ireland and the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Not to mention the bomb attack on the London Underground in 2005 or the early bomb attack on the Underground in 1883.

I came across this document which I purchased as part of a job lot with something else. It is the specification for a locomotive boiler issued by the Dublin Wicklow and Wexford Railway.

Click below to view the file (852kb).

dwwr-locomotive-boiler-specification