History of Glentown Slate Quarry near St Johnston
The earliest mention of slate quarrying in the St Johnston area comes from 21st October 1786. The quarry was made up at Ardagh and it was let out to slate manufacturers. There was controversy at the time because rather than one hole several holes were opened and moves were put in place to try and stop this. Complaints had been made about damage done to the area. At the time, slating was becoming more and more popular and the demand was there. Those who had a bit of money preferred to have their houses slated for convenience and safety. The risk of fire in thatched houses was well-known.
Though the St Johnston and Carrigans area wasn’t excessively ruined by the
famine, the quarry up at
Mrs Campbell wrote, Many Famine Relief Schemes were organised. One such was at the slate quarry in the Glentown .... Mr. John B. Moody, Momeen, told me that the tenant of the quarry, a family called Alexander fed the quarry workers and others, charging them a small amount. Indian meal porridge was boiled to a stiff consistency in a huge boiler, and cut in slices and eaten off slates.
Mrs Campbell also wrote,
The quarrying of slates is mentioned by James Hamilton, agent to the Earl of Abercorn as early as 1786. 21st Oct. 1786. He refers to a dispute between James Gamble and Samuel Latta concerning the letting of slate quarries: I will as your Lordship orders let a slate quarry in Ardagh to Samuel Latta. I think it would be well that who ever takes a quarry should be confined nearly to the place opened, not make holes in several places. James Gamble is the rental for a slate quarry at Baliboedooish. The people of Glendooish complain of his quarrying there. I wished to have confined him to Baliboes, but Moses Armor says your Lordship let him (Gamble) all the slate quarries in Donegal except Trentagh....Slating has grown much in fashion. Nothing more is known of these quarries till they came into the news at the time of the Famine when the large quarry at Glentown was operated as a Famine Relief project. About 1850 it was closed and not re-opened 'til 1931/32 at another time of economic recession. I well remember the workers coming from work in the evening—a huge fleet of bicycles racing down the steep braes from Glentown.
About 1940 it was closed for good.
Huge piles of broken slate round a deep quarry hole, which resembles a lake, still dominate the landscape at Glentown and Trentagh. A tunnel 300 yards long connects the quarry with a waste-tip at Trentagh.
End of quote.
APPENDIX
Quote from a Duchas essay Old Houses by Andrew Magee from the 1930's
About the year 1818 the Glentown Slate Quarry was opened by the Duke of Abercorn and slates were supplied very cheaply to all the tenants on the estate. From that time onwards a great many houses were slated with the Glentown slates. About the same time a "flag" quarry was opened at Ardagh which supplied "flags" for the making roofs some out offices.
An Essay from the Duchas website dating from the 1930's
This quarry, which is known as the Glentown slate quarry, is in Mr
McMonagle's land. Some years ago Mr McMonagle used to quarry slate himself
in his own small way. Then Mr Holmes offered him forty pounds for his piece
of land round the quarry, and started quarrying on a large scale, and
employed a good many men.
Then the Government gave him grants which enabled him to get cranes to help
on with the work. Now there are five cranes in use, and for roughly the last
five years the quarry has given employment to sometimes four hundred men. At
various times there is work going on both night and day. When this is in
progress people speak of the night-shift and the day-shift.
Little huts of stone have been specially erected to give shelter to the "splitters". Each "splitter" has a seat of his own, and I noticed that each tried to make that seat as comfortable as possible. Some had straw others had bags for heat. There is a wooden hammer and a chisel supplied to each splitter. This is cold work especially on a wintry day, as these people are sitting at their work.
Many small boys, just over fourteen years of age, are employed for carrying the slates.
The waste-matter is first put into iron "trucks" which are pushed along "railway lines" by two men, and thrown in the "dump" on the outside of the quarry.
At the present time there is a tremendous hole, away deep down. There are men constantly working at the bottom and they look to be very tiny from the top. At various times the blasting of the rock can be heard for miles around. There are pipes layed down to the bottom of the hole, and there are men attending to the pumping of the water.
There are men for piling up the slates in rows to keep them safe. When an order for slates arrives there are three quarry lorries which carry off the slates to the station.
At night the quarry is lit up by twenty electric lights. These lights can be seen for miles and miles as the Quarry is on very high ground.
There is a farm, a steam-horn, which blows very frequently during the day. Many of The country people listen and fix their clocks when they hear the horn. It blows at five thirty in the evenings, and very shortly afterwards "streams" of bicycles can be seen coming from all directions from the Quarry. I'm sure these workers are glad to get home so that they can get something substantial to eat, as they have only had a flask of tea in the middle of the day.
LAURA ROUNTREE, CRAIGHADOES SCHOOL