On Wednesday we had something that in Ireland we call
a pet day- a single day of good weather in a stretch of cloudy, rainy days. We used this opportunity and jumped into a car. We had had this trip planned before, we were just waiting for the right time!
First, we went to Laharran Mine to collect some wavellite and indeed, we found a few beautiful specimens. But about this I will tell you the next time :) Happy, we quickly ate our sandwiches, loaded energy with something sweet, changed shoes and singing out loud drove to Glandore. On our way, totally by accident, we saw a small quarry. We quickly turned the car and asked the only person there, a guy on a tractor, if we could have a quick look at what they have there. He said the boss wasn`t there and told us to work away ;) With no tools, in the wrong shoes, off we went- as fast as we could, afraid that he could change his mind. Klaudia`s "crystal nose" did a good job again, as it smelled beautiful, clear quartz crystals! I will post pictures in the next post (about Laharran), as I still have to take some decent ones. My New Year`s resolution is to learn how to take good photos of minerals :) Back to the crystals- as I told you, we didn`t take tools with us, so Klaudia literally tore the crystals out of the rock with bare hands! Her palms were cut in ten different places and bled, but I don`t think she minded at all! :D
When we finally got to Glandore, it was already late and just about to get dark. We decided we would have a look at the place, see what we would need the next time there and leave soon. We were trying to find the old adit level (see video on YT about Glandore Mine, where it is marked), as we were told stuff was found there. By "stuff" I mean Corkite- Glandore being the type locality for it! Corkite is only interesting under the microscope, so this is something Klaudia definitely would not enjoy. Other interesting minerals can be found there, for example goethite, malachite, rhodochrosite, or cuprite. We found the adit but it is now heavily overgrown and one wouldn`t be able to check it without a decent shovel. And a pick axe ;)
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| Old adit level |
Then we went up to see the engine house and the shaft, which is a verrrrry deep hole! I would never ever even try to check the bottom of it.
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| It`s hard to see in the picture, but the tree has its roots in the hole. |
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| View from the other side of the shaft, the hole not so deep but still too dangerous to go inside. |
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| The engine house |
The mine worked for copper from 1811, then for manganese and iron from 1840, and closed completely in 1910.
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| View of the fields around |
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| Fields around |
I picked up some yellow stones hoping they could be corkite, but still haven`t checked them. We didn`t do any collecting on that day there, but it still was a nice history and geology lesson- definitely worth it! We will go back to Glandore one day!
