HAEMATITE IRON ORE
Iron ore in Unagh - a townland of Lissan. These workings were old in 1652 asrecorded by Dr. Boate in his book - "Ireland's Natural History" - he was quite correct because Thomas Staples must have been aware of the ore when he came from Moneymore soon after 1600 to build a home for himself and his skilled workmen. He set up a furnace at Lissan to release this valuable metal from the nodules of various deposits in which it was to be found.
In the Rebellion of 1641 the O'Neills took over Lissan House and smelted the iron to make tips for the pikes of their followers. In 1689 chains which formed part of the boom on the River Foyle at the Siege of Derry came from the Lissan foundry but by 1700 the Archbishop of Armagh who owned the land banned the felling of oaks to make the necessary charcoal and work ceased.
| In 1875 Sir Nathaniel Staples re-opened the mines, installed a weighbridge in the Lissan yard, and arranged for the ore to be smelted in Barrow - in - Furness in England. There was much interest in Cookstown when 100 workmen arrived and houses were especially built for them. Their job was to carry coal by horse and cart to prime the pumps as water was constantly rising in the mine and take the iron nodules to the railway station for the start of the journey to England. |
|
This unique venture became uneconomic and in 1920 the mine was closed for the second time and the workmen scattered all over the World.
In 1943 Sir Robert Staples tried to drum up interest in the Barrow Mine but to no avail. Traces of the old workings are still to be found on the Gourley property in the Cove Bridge area and nodules containing the metal may still be found in a variety of lovely colours. Research on this project is being undertaken by a Director of the Trust R.S.D. Marks O.B.E.