Bell's Heap

 

McClean Tip Head, Deerpark, Castlecomer

McClean Tip Head was the correct name for this mountain of waste coal products.

McClean Tip Head, Deerpark, Castlecomer

McClean Tip Head, Deerpark, Castlecomer

McClean Tip Head was the correct name for this mountain of waste coal products.

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Remains of McClean Tip Head, Deerpark Castlecomer

Remains of McClean Tip Head, Deerpark Castlecomer

Remains of McClean Tip Head, Deerpark Castlecomer

Remains of McClean Tip Head, Deerpark Castlecomer

Remains of McClean Tip Head, Deerpark Castlecomer

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Bell's Heap, or Monument, was the most visually spectacular feature of Deerpark. The correct name for this mountain of coal, slack and rock was the McClean Tip Head. It was some 350ft high and covered an area of three acres. Sub-standard coal, slates and stones were separated on the landing area and sent by tram to a large mountain of waste coal called Bell's Heap. There was a rail track from the mine to the top of the heap and when the tram reached the top it mechanically tipped its load.

This mountain of coal and slack no longer exists today as the slack was eventually used as an ingredient to make cement. Bell's Heap was transported by lorry to a cement factory in Limerick. It took approximately fifteen years at a rate of five lorries a day to dismantle the mountain. There is little left over ground today of the conical slack heap which had been pulled from the depths by generations of miners.