«a4 Acceunl of thj Ir'ijh Gold Mine. 



A gentleman who faw them at work affured Mr. Lloyd, that he counted above three 

 hundred wom^en atone time, befides great numbers of men and children. 



The ftream runs down to the N. E. from the hill, which iecms to confift of a mafs of 

 fliiftus and quartz; for, on examination of the principal ravine, which is now wafhed clean 

 by the late heavy rains, the bottom confifted of fhiftus interfedled at different diftances and 

 in various places by veins of quartz, and of which fubftances th'e gravelly beds at the bottom, 

 where the gold is found, feem to confift. 



Large tumblers of quartz are thickly fcattered over the furface of the top of the hill, 

 under a turbary of confiderable thicknefs, upon the removal of which thefe tumblers appear. 



The gold has been found in maffes of all fizes, from thofe of fmall grains to that of a piece 

 of the weight of five ounces; which beautiful fpecimen is intended for the cabinet of a noble- 

 man adored in this country, and not lefs refpefted by his friends in England, and which I dare 

 to fay you will fliortly have an opportunity of feeing in London. One piece of twenty-two 

 ounces has been taken up, and which I am told is to be prefented to his Majefty. 



Mr. Graham of Ballycoage informed Mr. Lloyd, that about twenty-five years ago, or 

 more, one Dunaghoo a fchoolmafler, refident near the place, ufed frequently to entertain 

 them with accounts of the richnefs of the valley in gold; and that this man ufed to go in the 

 night and break of day to fearch for the treafure ; and thefe gentlemen with their fchool- 

 fellows ufed to watch the old man in his excurfions to the hill, to frighten him, deeming him 

 to be deranged in his lntelle<Sts. However, the idea of this treafure did at laft a(n;ually de- 

 range him. 



Mr. Lloyd learned alfo from John Byrne, that about eleven or twelve years ago, when he 

 was a boy, he was fifliing in this brook, and found a piece of gold of a quarter of an ounce, 

 which was fold in Dublin ; but that, upon one of his brothers telling him it mufthave been 

 dropped into the brook by accident, he gave over all thoughts of fearching for more. 

 Charles Toole, a miner at Cronbane, faid, that he heard of this difcovery at the time, but 

 gave no credit to it, as he never found any gold, and lives very near the place ; and Mr. 

 Lloyd was alfo credibly informed, that a goldfmith in Dublin has every year for eleven or 

 twelve years bought four or five ounces of gold brought conftantly by the fame perfon, but 

 not John Byrne. 



The name of the brook where the gold is found is in Irifli Aughatinavought. 



The account of the mineralogy and other clrcuraftances by Abraham Mills, Efq. is as 

 follows : * 



The workings, which the peafantry recently undertook, are on the north-eaft fide of the 

 mountain Croughan Klnfhelly, within the barony of Arklow and county of Wicklow, oii 

 the lands of the Earl of Carysfort, wherein the Earl of Ormond claims a right to the 

 minerals, in confequence of a grant in the reign of King Henry the Second by Prince John, 

 during his command of his father's forces in Ireland ; which grant was renewed and con- 

 firmed by Queen Elizabeth, and again by King Charles the Second *. 



The fummit of the mountain is the boundary between the counties of Wicklow and 

 Wexford; fevenEnglifli miles weft from ArkJk w, ten to the fouth-weftward of Rathdrum,. 

 and fix fouth-wefterly from Crojibane mines ; by cftimation about fix hundred yards above 



• It was afterwards found that this grant had been annulled by an aft of the Irifli Parliament near the 

 beginning of the prefent century. Mr. Mills has fince worked this mine on account of Government. N. 



6 the 



