Barnacullia quarries

Barnacullia quarries

Evening light in Barnacullia, 2010
Location
Barnacullia quarries
Location	Barnacullia, Sandyford, Dublin 18, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown
Country	Republic of Ireland
Coordinates	53.2555°N 6.2340°W / 53.2555; -6.2340
Production
Products	Granite
History
Opened	1874 (earliest)

Barnacullia quarries, is a granite quarrying area in the townland of Barnacullia on the north-eastern slopes of Three Rock Mountain in the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland.

History

Background

The granite in the Wicklow Mountains, wherein Barnacullia sits, is of Devonian age dating to around 400 million years ago and is part of what is known as the 'Leinster granite batholith' which stretches from Killiney Hill in Dublin southwards to County Carlow. Granite has also been exploited on the island of Ireland in counties Galway, Donegal and Down. The wider Dublin area was exploited for its granite for centuries, and it is known that granite quarrying took place at Dalkey quarry, close to Dublin city, from 1680.

Prior to 1720, calp limestone was the main stone building material used in Dublin, and was quarried locally in the suburbs of Palmerstown, Kimmage, Rathgar and Donnybrook (where a Dublin Bus depot exists today). After this date, imported limestones, sandstones and granites began to replace the calp as they became more popular. The nearest granite sources to Dublin were the quarries of south County Dublin and north-west County Wicklow.

Granite from the Wicklow and Dublin Mountains, and limestone from the immediate hinterland, came to be the primary stones used in the construction of Dublin city, and became recognised as being "characteristic to Dublin" in the same way that basalt from Antrim and granite from the Mourne Mountains came to typify Belfast's urban landscape.

It is worth noting that during the heyday of the quarries their location would have been described as having been in the southern end of County Dublin. Since 1994, the county has been subdivided into four and the quarries are now under the jurisdiction of the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, but colloquially still remain in County Dublin.

Leinster granite types

According to Wyse Jackson and Caulfield:

"Within the Leinster granite batholith... a number of plutons, or individual masses of granite, formed and each has a distinctive textural characteristic. The granites that were quarried at Baltyboys, Blessington, Woodend, Threecastles and Golden Hill in west County Wicklow, as well as those from Glencree, consist of crystals that were of smaller size having been formed at the same time, whereas granite from Three Rock Mountain and Glencullen contained conspicious crystals of mica up to half an inch (12 mm) wide..."

Granite of the "Glencree" variety from the eastern side of the batholith (the same side on which Barnacullia sits), were used by Viscount Powerscourt in the construction of his Powerscourt Estate (built 1731–41) and Powerscourt House (built 1771–74) in the city. According to Hayes, other granite quarries in the vicinity of Powerscourt included Toneygarrow, Lough Bray and Ballybrew, all of which are in County Wicklow. Other granite quarries in the greater Dublin area (but limited to County Dublin) included Kilgobbin and Golden Ball; both of which are adjacent to Barnacullia.

In 1976, the old Parliament House in Dublin began undergoing a period of restoration, having been subjected to the elements for 250 years. Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1, Jim Murphy, the contractor responsible for supplying the replacement granite, noted that he had already seen four distinct granite types represented in the fabric of the building; namely those from Dalkey, Barnacullia, Glencullen, and "an awful lot" from the Ballyknockan area. Murphy was able to distinguish between the different granites by the appearance of their surfaces, and "big scale" of mica present in some stones versus others. Stonecutters from Ballyknockan as well as Barnacullia were employed in the restoration works at the time.

Establishment

The local pub, The Blue Light, is included on maps dating back to at least 1853, "but is likely much older" according to a 2018 article on TheJournal.ie. The pub's official website describes their link to the local quarrying tradition:

"They say that granite in the mountain breeds a certain kind of men. The Blue Light is a pub built from hand-cut stone in Barnacullia – from the Irish 'top of the woods' – a small village community set amongst the old granite quarries in the Dublin Mountains. When the pub began entertaining quarrymen in the 1700s, taxes on imported spirits were so high that the locals needed to be resourceful...".

According to TheJournal.ie article, "There were once six shebeens (illicit bars) on the same road" as the pub, but the Blue Light was the only one still standing as of 2018.

Employment

Anne Kane, who grew up on the slopes of Three Rock Mountain, was interviewed by RTÉ Radio 1 in 1976 at the age of 96 and recalled how the Second Boer War (1899–1902) had brought a deep depression to the stoneworkings at Barnacullia quarries.

At the outset of the First World War in 1914, many stonecutters from Barnacullia moved to the granite quarry at Trefor in Wales for employment. After the Irish Civil War ended in 1923, many workers still remaining in Ireland were employed producing stone for repairing the buildings which had been damaged during the period, such as the GPO, Custom House and Four Courts. There was also a period of intense church building not long after, many of which were built using granite. Jim Murphy remembers that for the commission for Mullingar Cathedral, roughly 200 stone cutters were employed at various quarries all over Three Rock Mountain for a time.

Granite for the Irish National War Memorial Gardens, which were begun in 1932 at Islandbridge in Dublin came from Ballyknockan as well as Barnacullia quarries and the carved stonework was carried out by Irish stonemasons. By the 1940s, the number of quarries at Barnacullia had dropped to five.

Usage of Barnacullia granite

In his book "The Building Stones of Dublin: A Walking Guide", published in 1993, Wyse Jackson noted the use of Barnacullia granite, or Three Rock Mountain granite, in a number of city centre buildings:

• The high wall on Castle Street, with its stucco face, has insets of granite from Three Rock Mountain. "This granite is characterised by large, flat, platy, silvery mica crystals up to one centimetre in width and three centimetres in length, and large, pale feldspars which are set into a fine-grained matrix or groundmass dominated by quartz."
• Stephen's Green Shopping Centre: "The recently built St Stephen's Green Centre (opened in 1988)... is faced in Barnacullia granite from Co. Dublin. This granite is similar to that from Ballybrew, except that it contains large micas fifteen to twenty millimetres in length, which appear like crayon marks in cut surfaces."
• 9-11 O'Connell Street (corner of Cathedral Street): "The building occupied by Burger King is not remarkable. However, it is worth looking at, because at ground-floor level four different stone types have been used. There are all currently available and are typical of stone used in the last two decades. The pale granite is from Barnacullia, Co. Dublin; the black stone is gabbro; the red granite is the Swedish Balmoral red; while above the plate glass windows the cream-coloured Portland stone is used."

From 1960 until at least 1993, concrete buildings in Dublin were "usually" still "covered with a thin veneer or cladding of cut stone" (rarely more than 2 cm thick), according to Wyse Jackson, utilising "granite and other igneous rocks, from Wicklow, or imported from Scandinavia, Brazil and elsewhere". This was noted at the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) where "native and imported granites (were) used side by side". It is unclear whether Barnacullia granite was used in the cladding of such buildings.

Granite flagstones

In 1976, Peter "Gocksy" McCabe, a stone cutter in Barnacullia, bemoaned the fact that Dublin Corporation had recently moved from using granite flagstones to using slabs of concrete for the city paths all across the city. For the past 200 years, Dublin Corporation, under the auspices of the Commissioners for Paving the Streets of Dublin, had adopted "wholesale" the use of granite for their paving in the city since the 1770s, replacing the use of calp limestone which they had used before that since medieval times.

In 1993, Wyse Jackson welcomed the renewed use of granite paving and kerbing in at least one location outside the Mont Clare Hotel (since 2019 renamed as The Mont), on Merrion Street Lower, which had been recently re-laid using County Wicklow granite. "Apart from being more attractive, the granite offers better grip to pedestrians, particularly when it is raining", he wrote.

Modern era

As of 2007, Murphystone (the trade name of James Murphy & Sons Ltd, founded in 1890 in Dublin) were in ownership of a granite quarry at Barnacullia, as well as an Irish blue limestone quarry in County Roscommon. That same year Murphystone obtained a contract to supply 700-800 metres² of granite to the Planning Department of a Local Authority who had insisted on the use of local stone in their works.

In August 2006, Murphystone had been due to move to a new factory and offices near the Barnacullia quarry. The factory was intended to have a "new 2,7 m diameter circular saw to complement an existing one, for all primary sawing". Gerry Cotter, sales director at the time was quoted as saying: "Our granite quarry has a good future. Experienced users know that when Chinese grey granite weathers, it has no life". In 2006, Murphystone employed around 20 staff and their turnover in 2005 had been "around €2,000,000". At the time, they did not supply granite outside of Ireland.

As of 2024, Murphystone are still in existence and advertise their stone as quarried from Sandyford although their business address is in Barnacullia. Amongst the commercial projects Murphystone have supplied stone to include:

• The Merrion Hotel, Dublin
• Brown Thomas, Grafton Street, Dublin
• Bank of Ireland, Waterford
• Teagasc College of Amenity Horticulture, Botanic Gardens
• Dún Laoghaire Shopping Centre
• DLR Lexicon, Dún Laoghaire

In November 2024, the 928 m² industrial unit of the "former Murphy Stone Facility, Bluelight Quarry, Barnacullia, Sandyford, Dublin 18" was put up for rent on Irish property website 'daft.ie'.

See also

• The Blue Light, a local Barnacullia pub dating from at least 1853, well known for its Irish music and trad sessions
• Georgian Dublin

References

Sources

• Hayes, Melanie; Casey, Christine (2023). Enriching Architecture: Craft and Its Conservation in Anglo-Irish Building Production, 1660–1760. London: UCL Press. ISBN 978-1800083561.
• Hussey, John (1 November 2014). "Granite as a Building Material in Dublin in the Early Eighteenth Century". History Ireland. 22 (6). Dublin: Wordwell Ltd.: 18–20. JSTOR 44897444.
• Morgan, Elizabeth (1 July 2014). "Gems of Architecture: Irish National War Memorial Gardens, Islandbridge, Dublin". History Ireland. 22 (4 - SPECIAL ISSUE: Ireland & WWI). Dublin: Wordwell Ltd.: 45. JSTOR 44897637.
• Ó Maitiú, Séamas; O'Reilly, Barry (1997). Ballyknockan. A Wicklow Stonecutters' Village. Dublin: Woodfield Press. ISBN 978-0952845355.
• Scannell, James (1 March 2009). "From Kingstown to Dalkey By Air (The Atmospheric Railway 1844-1854)". Dublin Historical Record. 62 (1). Dublin: Old Dublin Society: 83–97. JSTOR 27806814.
• Trant, Kathy (2004). The Blessington Estate. 1667-1908. Dublin: Anvil Books. ISBN 1-901737-51-9.
• Wyse Jackson, Patrick (1 January 1995). "A Victorian Landmark - Trinity College's Museum Building". Irish Arts Review Yearbook. 11 (1995). Dublin: Irish Arts Review: 149–154. JSTOR 20492826.
• Wyse Jackson, Patrick N.; Caulfield, Louise M. (2023). Enriching Architecture: Craft and Its Conservation in Anglo-Irish Building Production, 1660–1760. Chapter 8: The rough and the smooth. Stone use in Dublin 1720–60. London: UCL Press. ISBN 978-1800083561.
• Wyse Jackson, Patrick (1993). The Building Stones of Dublin: A Walking Guide. Donnybrook, Dublin: Town House and Country House. ISBN 0-946172-32-3.