Coal Seams

The Three Foot Seam

This seam extended from Coolbawn to Crettyard. It was exploited from around 1640 and continued for around one hundred and fifty years. It was estimated that anything from ten to fifteen million tons of coal was exploited from the Three Foot. Iron and very high quality coal called anthracite were both produced. The method used to extract the coal was the 'Bell's Pits'. Very early workings were mostly open-cast coal pits.

The Jarrow Seam

Jarrow Pit

The next seam to be discovered was in about 1740. It was lying about 200 feet from the surface near Cloneen and was in the shape of a horseshoe. Its name, Jarrow, came from miners that were imported from Durham in England to work there. This seam was first mined in 1797 when three pits were sunk in Clonbrock. David Aher was the Castlecomer Colliery Manager. He mined at Aghamucky and Monteen. He also put down bore holes at Massford, where he found the coal to be 4ft thick and at an average depth of over 100 yards.

In his geological report of 1814, Richard Griffith stated;

"the appearance of the surface in every part where the coal has been wrought bears a strong resemblance to a rabbit warren, there being a continued succession of hillocks and holes. Indeed the number of pits that have been sunk may justly be compared to the perforations of a cullender."

By this time explosives were available for mining and steam generators for pumping and haulage. There was an aerial ropeway running between pits for the transportation of coal. Eventually, seven Jarrow pits were sunk. Starting near Doonane and reaching to Coolbawn, these were called various names such as the Jarrow, the Ridge, the Rock and the Vera. The Vera was so called after Wandesforde's daughter. This pit represented the tail end of the Jarrow seam, and closed in 1927.

The Skehana Seam

Three hundred feet below the Jarrow a shaft was sunk and this seam was known as the Skehana seam. However, this did not extend very far. In Deerpark an inclined shaft was sunk to this seam and was called the Deerpark Pit, which was part of the Skehana seam.

The Deerpark was worked from 1925 until 1969. Its deepest point was 700 feet below the surface and eleven miles of underground roadways were constructed. The pit generated its own electric current by steam generators at first, but it was supplied from the ESB when electric current became widely available. Mining became automated from1945; there were electric coal cutters, underground conveyers, and pumps. The coal was sorted, cleaned and sized above ground at an installation known as "The Screens". There were also miner's baths.

In 1917 a branch railway line was extended to the area from Kilkenny, but after the Second World War transportation by lorry had become more economical. Finally, in 1969 the mine was completely uneconomical, with the loss per week at some £2000. The Deerpark Pit was forced to close.