Kinahan — On Irish Metal Mining. 283- 



The county in general is covered by drift, or bog, and only in 

 a few places have mineral veins been discovered. Lead was mined 

 at Wheatfield, near Celbridge, in 1828 ; while Lewis records 

 copper and iron as having been found in the Ordovician rocks 

 of Dunmurry, near Kildare, in 1786. 



No gold is now found in the county ; yet tradition has it, that 

 ancient Placers were worked somewhere near Bally more-Eustace. 

 At one time the Upper Liffey, above Poulaphuca, must have run 

 northward along the flats at the mearing of Wicklow and Kildare 

 to join into the Slaney at Baiting-lass ; and it is possible that 

 somewhere in these ancient river-gravels the traditional Placers 

 were situated. 



In the counties Dublin, Wicklow, and Wexford, to the east- 

 ward of the Leinster Granyte range, in the Metamorphic Ordo- 

 vicians, are mineral veins ; while, as pointed out by previous 

 writers, none have been found in the similar rocks westward of 

 the Granyte, except the iron vein in Glenasplinkeen, Co. Wicklow. 

 This possibly may be due to the deep limestone gravel, extending; 

 from the plain up unto the Granyte, often to the height of 400 

 feet, and in places to 500 feet or more, thus preventing the Meta- 

 morphic rocks being properly seen or examined; as eastward of 

 the range, where the mineral veins have been found, these drifts 

 rarely occur above the 250 feet contour line. Similarly in the Co. 

 Wexford, to the eastward of the range, where the rocks are more 

 blinded by this drift, the mineral localities known, are fewer than 

 in the Co. Wicklow. 



Kilkenny. 



To the south-east of the county there is an area of Ordovicians,. 

 having in it intrudes of Granyte ; while to the west, and extend- 

 ing into the Co. Tipperary, is a small exposure of Ordovicians. 

 Margining the Ordovicians is Lower Carboniferous Sandstone, and 

 on it Carboniferous Limestone ; while to the northward, surmounting 

 all, are Coal Measures, a part of the Leinster Coal-field. 



As the anthracyte was first worked in Kilkenny by the English, 

 the general name of " Kilkenny coal " has been given to this 

 Irish coal ; we may therefore here give a resume of the history of 

 the field. 



