Kinahan— Slates and Clays {Bricks, fyc). 89 



formable to the Silurian slates, and dip away from them on all 

 sides, usually at high angles. 



" The greater part of this plateau is drained from east to west 

 by the river Lingaun, which joins the river Suir, close to the town 

 of Carrick. Near the central portion of this plateau, between the 

 villages of Windgap and Tinnakelly, the river Lingaun has cut a 

 deep glen in the slate rocks, and here extensive quarrying for 

 roofing slates has been carried on for many years, which include 

 the open quarries of Clashnasmut and others. 



" The average strike or direction of the slate veins in the Vic- 

 toria Quarries is north-east and south-west, with rolling-dips at 

 60° to 70°, and as the general direction of the slaty cleavage which 

 invariably pervades these rocks is 30° to 40° north of east, and 

 south of west, vertical, the relation of the planes of dip and 

 cleavage is most favourable for the development of the required 

 slaty structure. 



" The slates raised from this quarry are of a pale-grey colour, 

 free from any iron pyrites ; they are remarkable for their size, 

 soundness and evenness of the cleavage, and for the ease and thin- 

 ness with which they split. The quality of the slate is second to 

 none in Ireland, and the quantity is practically inexhaustible." 



The present Company was incorporated in 1864, with a capital 

 of £50,000, of which £40,000 has been already spent in developing 

 the resources of the quarries ; various causes have delayed the full 

 opening of this property, the present annual raisings from which 

 are of the value of from £6000 to £7000. The slates are in steady 

 demand. 



On one portion of the property, where the slate rock comes 

 into contact with the Old Red Sandstone, the slate is of a greenish 

 hue — a colour in great request for ornamental roofing. This slate 

 was awarded a gold medal at the last Dublin Exhibition (1882), 

 and a large bronze medal " for its colour, strength, grain, and tex- 

 ture " at the Cork Exhibition (1883). The rock is cut and dressed 

 by machinery, the motive power being supplied by the river 

 Lingaun. 



In the Galtymore range, in the south-west of the county, and 

 near the mearing of the Co. Limerick, is the already mentioned 

 (Limerick, ante, p. 86) large quarry in the southern side of the Glen 

 of Aherlow, one and a-half miles south of Ballynacourty, or New 



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