County: Wicklow Site name: New Crusher House of Baravore Mine, Baravore, Glenmalure Valley
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 17E0132
Author: Neil Jackman
Site type: 19th-century ore crusher house of lead mine
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 706233m, N 694235m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.988301, -6.417900
This small excavation focused on the ‘New Crusher House’ (Wicklow County Council RPS: Ref No: 23/12) located in the Glenmalure Valley, County Wicklow. The excavation took place on 25 and 26 March 2017.
The excavation was carried out to establish if an original floor surface still existed within the nineteenth-century New Crusher House building. At the time of the excavation, conservation works on the building had just been completed. Furthermore, as the New Crusher House is part of the Heritage Council’s Adopt a Monument Scheme, the excavation was designed to have a focus on public engagement, and formed part of an open day that showcased the recent conservation works and led the local community and visitors on a tour of the industrial heritage of the valley.
Following our weekend excavation of the site, we identified that there had been a floor when the building was originally constructed but that it was robbed out when the building had fallen into disrepair. No artefacts or environmental evidence was retrieved during the course of the excavation.
Though limited in its scope and ambitions, the excavation revealed evidence to suggest that the New Crusher House originally had a flagged stone floor at the ground level. This adds to the overall architectural information about the building, and provides a further small insight into the important story of the mining heritage of the Glenmalure Valley.
No further excavations or conservation works are planned for this site. Coillte (the landowners) have erected a gate at the entrance to the New Crusher Building to limit access to the interior to avoid anti-social behaviour and to protect the integrity of the building. The key for the gate will be held by the local community to ensure that if there are interested groups who wish to access the building, this can be facilitated by the local group who regularly carry out tours and walks of the area.
Abarta Heritage, 1 Dillon Street, Clonmel, Tipperary
