{"id":5447,"date":"2020-08-07T12:35:26","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T16:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=5447"},"modified":"2020-08-07T12:40:55","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T16:40:55","slug":"episode-89-bunmahon-and-knockmahon-mysterious-people-those-miners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=5447","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 89 BUNMAHON AND KNOCKMAHON…MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE THOSE MINERS"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 89   BUNMAHON AND KNOCKMAHON\u2026.MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE THOSE MINERS<\/p>\n

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Look closely.   See Barney  Dwan resting  comfortably on the  cliffs of Knockmahon in 1960.  Behind  him<\/div>\n
is one of the adits  he showed me back then.  When I think of that 1960 adventure today in 2020  I am surprised<\/div>\n
that none of my work crew  seemed to have any connection with the miners  of Knockmahon between 1840 and 1880.<\/div>\n
But I  never asked really as we spent most of our time keeping cows  from eating our cables.<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
I This picture  of an Irish  cottage was taken in  Knockmahon in 1960.   Had  there been cameras invented  in 1850, many<\/div>\n
such  pictures could  have been taken.  (alan skeoch)<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
August 2020<\/div>\n

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I suppose  most people who think of Ireland\u2019s past history immediately say \u201cPotato Famine\u201d or<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Great Hunger\u201d.  For good reason since 1 million Irish people starved to  death in the 1840\u2019s<\/div>\n
and another 1 million fled Ireland for North America and Canada where living conditions were<\/div>\n
somewhat better.   The population of Ireland dropped from 8 million to 6 million in those years.<\/div>\n

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Today, August 7, 2020, it is easier for us to understand  those bad years.  We are in the midst<\/div>\n
of the greatest Pandemic of our lives\u2026Covid 19 has killed thousands of people  already and <\/div>\n
predictions are that eventually a million people will have  succumbed to that tiny virus.<\/div>\n

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HOW DID THE POTATO FAMINE AFFECT BUNMAHON AND KNOCKMAHON?<\/div>\n

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The Irish miners of County Waterford were a mysterious people to me\u2026ghosts in<\/div>\n
my mind when I worked<\/div>\n
over the old  mine remnants  in 1960.  No one ever told me they were descendants<\/div>\n
of  those 2,000 men, women  and  children who dug, sorted and shipped  oopper ore<\/div>\n
from that thick but single vein of ore evident on the cliffs and eventually disappearing<\/div>\n
into faults and tiny traces one mile inland from  the sea.   That vein reached 800 feet<\/div>\n
below the ground\u2026much of  it out under the Atlantic Ocean.<\/div>\n

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Who were these people?   Many of them remain a  mystery but thanks to the research<\/div>\n
of  Desman Cowman, a high school teacher in the Christian Brothers school  in Tramore\u2026<\/div>\n
Thanks to his impeccable research  some of the curtain of mystery has  been  pulled<\/div>\n
aside.<\/div>\n

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Here is what we know about those people\u2026gleaned from fragments.<\/div>\n

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  There  was a leader who tried to shepherd the mine families  through the starvation <\/div>\n
years.  He was a miner from Cornwall who came to Knockmahon along  with many<\/div>\n
other  Cornwall miners.  His name was Pentheric. (sp?)  As early as1841 the spectre  of starvation<\/div>\n
hung  over Bunmahon and  mine manager Pentheric  imported a large cargo  of potatoes<\/div>\n
and  oatmeal which was sold cheaply to the mine families.<\/div>\n

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But it was not enough.  By  the dark year of  1846 deaths were common.. <\/div>\n

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 \u201cThere is a great increase<\/div>\n
of fever in the  district.  From 150 to 200 are unemployed  in the village of  Bunmahon.  A<\/div>\n
considerable increase of  fever is apprehended from the scarcity and  high price of food.\u201d (Feb. 1846)<\/div>\n

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\u201c\u2026a mining population of about 3,000 (guesiimate?) \u2026 some of these  are in a state of<\/div>\n
great destitution.  They will no longer be supp[orted by the people of  Kill and Newtown.<\/div>\n
\u2026Only 116 pounds (money)  left.   Lorenzo Power and  Richard Purdy  have left for Dublin to get some<\/div>\n
emergency help.\u201d  (May, 1846)<\/div>\n

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\u201c133 tons of Indian meal have been distributed since 2nd of  June among 3,520 people.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cA large quantity was distributed gratuitously and  in  return for work. (widening and straightening<\/div>\n
public roads)\u2026Any that had employment were sold the meal for prices ranging from 1\/2 d to <\/div>\n
6 d per stone (halfpence to sixpence).  Half  a  stone being allowed per person per week.<\/div>\n
The objects of relief in this district are chiefly  cotters, farm labourers  and miners.\u201d (August 24, 1846)<\/div>\n
(*Note: Indian meal, i.e. corn meal, was difficult for Irish people to process and eat so  it did<\/div>\n
not always  stave off starvation)<\/div>\n

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\u201cNo more money to buy meal.:  (Sept. 30,1846)<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe hinterland  of  Bonmahon is one of the great distressed  parts of this country\u2026.There is apathy<\/div>\n
to all farming orations and the ground is neglected.\u201d   )Feb. 22, 1847)<\/div>\n

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\u201cOut of  population of 5,000 in Kill-Knockmahon area on one day 3,500 applied  for relief.  There <\/div>\n
were 1,400  on relief when food ran out.\u201d   (May  to September 1847)<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe rest is silence.  The dimensions of  the disaster emerge in the census of  1851.  One third of<\/div>\n
the population of  Bunmahon  hadn\u2019t survived \u2026 628 people out of the 1,771 population recorded in 1841 <\/div>\n
had  simply vanished and their fate goes unrecorded.  The shanty-town survived.   (But)  76 of the 90<\/div>\n
habitations there were gone\u2026about a quarter of the labouring class in the hinterland of the mines<\/div>\n
seem to have vanished.  The human agonies behind these figures can well be imagined but no<\/div>\n
record survives detail them.\u201d   (Des Cowman, quotes gleaned from reports of Mining Company of<\/div>\n
Ireland)<\/div>\n

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So that dark decade  from 1841 to 1850 has  left only  spotty records for us to consider.  Miners<\/div>\n
and mine families  just did  not keep  records.  Most, it seems,  could  not read or write.  And any<\/div>\n
that could do so were too tired and too hungry to put their grief in print.<\/div>\n

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The irish labourers homes were small\u2026in this case one room.  Some<\/div>\n
miners cottages in Bunmahon had two  families living one such home.<\/div>\n

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Adult males and rural class
structure circa 1841<\/span> (2)<\/span>
Category Number Per cent<\/span>
Rich Farmers 50,000 2.9<\/span>
(average holding 80 acres)<\/span>
\u2018Snug\u2019 Farmers 100,000 5.9<\/span>
(average holding 50 acres)<\/span>
Family Farmers 250,000 14.7<\/span>
(average holding 20 acres and usually not<\/span>
employing labour)<\/span>
Cottiers 300,000 17.7<\/span>
(average holding five acres)<\/span>
Labourers 1,000,000 58.8<\/span>
(average holding one acre, though often<\/span>
without any land)<\/span>
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Living standards of the rural poor<\/span>
There were localised famines in 1800, 1817, 1822, 1831, 1835-37 and 1842. Prior to 1838 there was no state welfare system. In 1841, two fifths of Irish homes were one-roomed mud walled cabins. In the words of a contemporary observer: <\/span>\u201cThe hovels which the poor people were building as I passed, solely by their own efforts, were of the most abject description; their walls were formed, in several instances, by the backs of fences; the floors sunk in ditches; the height scarcely enough for a man to stand upright; poles not thicker than a broomstick for couples; a few pieces of grass sods the only covering; and these extending only partially over the thing called a roof; the elderly people miserably clothed; the children all but naked.\u201d<\/span>3<\/span>
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\"Failure<\/div>\n
The  one roomed  Bothans were makeshift structures often using  a<\/div>\n
stone farm  fence as the back wall.  The Bonmahon \u2018 bothars’  just disappeared<\/div>\n
during the famine.  As did their residents<\/div>\n

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Evictions  of Irish rural poor were coupled with the demolition of<\/div>\n
their \u2018cottages\u2019.  Some of  these roofless  ruins are still evident here<\/div>\n
and there in Ireland.  At least one was present in 1960 in Bonmahon.<\/div>\n

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Today,  August 7, 2020 the best marker left by these people is the old winding tower<\/div>\n
and steam engine house ruins that haunt the land above the cliffs of Knockmahon.   There is<\/div>\n
however, a modern playground in the village of  Knockmahon where once the sorting<\/div>\n
shed existed.   This was the place where to copper ore was dragged  by horse and<\/div>\n
cart and  later by a rail line to the village.   Girls  and young women, perhaps 200 of<\/div>\n
them , laboured separating the water rock from the valuable ore.  There<\/div>\n
was  a large water wheel that turned a crushing machine grinding the large lumps<\/div>\n
of ore into concentrate that  was  sacked and sent by sailing ship to Swansea, England, for<\/div>\n
melting into copper ingots. Big girls and  women were paid seven pence per day.<\/div>\n
Little girls got four pence per day.<\/div>\n

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There are a few glimpses of these girls that show  the poverty that  prevailed.<\/div>\n
Several young girls were  interviewed and  detailed  their work day\u2026from dawn<\/div>\n
to dusk earning 4d (fourpence) per day.  What does  fourpence mean?<\/div>\n
In 1850 the British pound was worth about $1.25 American.  The cost of a <\/div>\n
loaf of bread  in the United States was  9 cents.   This means that the full<\/div>\n
day of labour by  these young girls of 8 to 12 years old was barely enough <\/div>\n
to buy one loaf of bread.<\/div>\n

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How many loaves  of bread can be bought by a person earning minimum wage today?<\/div>\n
Not hard to figure.  eight hours times $15 per hour = $120.   A  loaf of bread<\/div>\n
costs  between  $2 and $3 which  means  a minimum wage worker can buy<\/div>\n
40 to 60 loaves  of bread from a single day of labour.  (I must be wrong here\u2026<\/div>\n
need to do more)<\/div>\n

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Irish miners in United States by the 1880\u2019s<\/div>\n

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\"Colorado<\/div>\n

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TO BE CONTINUED<\/div>\n

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alan  skeoch<\/div>\n
August  2020<\/div>\n

<\/font><\/div>\n
Post Script:   Some of the Bunmahon miners, perhaps many of them , left Ireland for North America.  Their lives<\/font><\/div>\n
may have improved somewhat but their lives were still unpleasant\u2026see below<\/font><\/div>\n

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<\/font><\/div>\n
Assistant Professor Jim Walsh\u2019s dissertation sheds some light on these Irish migrant miners\u2026perhaps some of<\/font><\/div>\n
them from Bonmahon.<\/font><\/div>\n

<\/font><\/div>\n
\n

“Ten years ago, Colorado author Jim Walsh\u2019s<\/a> dissertation research on 1800s immigration to the Rocky Mountain region led him to the Evergreen Cemetery in Leadville and a previously unwritten chapter of history. There he came upon the \u201cCatholic Free\u201d section beyond the back of the cemetery, which extends for acres into pine forest. Records indicate that over a thousand Irish immigrants\u2014averaging only 26 years in age\u2014are buried there in unmarked graves.  During the 1870s and 1880s, impoverished Irish miners flooded into the Rocky Mountains, often never to be heard from again. Rather than finding fortune in the gold and silver boom era, many met with untimely deaths. Walsh, a Clinical Assistant Professor at CU Denver<\/a>, who now researches and lectures on labor and immigration issues, has felt compelled to find some recognition for those unacknowledged souls.<\/font><\/p>\n

\"Colorado<\/font>
Colorado Irish Immigrants<\/font><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThese Irish immigrants, many from the copper mining region of the Beara Penninsula in west County Cork, were buried in what was called the Catholic Free<\/em> section of Evergreen Cemetery between 1878-1890,\u201d Walsh said.  \u201cThe sunken graves include hundreds of infants and children. These are the forgotten Irish:  destitute, transient, and facing dangerous working conditions.  A massive miners\u2019 strike in 1880 led by Irish-born Michael Mooney, failed to improve pay or working conditions for the community.  On October 1, we will resurrect their stories and make sure that this space is recognized as sacred Irish space.\u201d”<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 89   BUNMAHON AND KNOCKMAHON\u2026.MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE THOSE MINERS Look closely.   See Barney  Dwan resting  comfortably on the  cliffs of Knockmahon in 1960.  Behind  him is one of the adits  he showed me back then.  When I think of that 1960 adventure today in 2020  I am surprised that none of my work crew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}