Aughamucky
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Aghamucky Áth an Mhuicí
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| Village | |
 Aghamucky
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| Coordinates: 52°48′26″N 7°09′50″W / 52.80712°N 7.163944°WCoordinates: 52°48′26″N 7°09′50″W / 52.80712°N 7.163944°W | |
| Country | Republic of Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | County Kilkenny |
| Government | |
| • Dáil Éireann | Carlow–Kilkenny |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC-1) |
| Area code(s) | +353 |
| Website | www |
Aughamucky, officially Aghamucky (Irish: Áth an Mhuicí), is a small village in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland. It is off the N78 road, about 3 kilometres east from Castlecomer.
The area around Aughamucky is of great geological interest and as a result of the abundance of peat and coal it is blessed with a wide diversity of unique flora and fauna.
The roads in Aughamucky are the Yellow road, leading to Castlecomer, the Dairy Road leading to Smithstown, where the children went to school (which is now closed) the Bog Road leading to Monegore Bog, where the locals dug for peat as a supplementary source of fuel and the Rock Lane which leads to the river (known locally as The Tunnel) and the Rock coal mine.
The cross roads where all these roads meet is today known as Ryan's Cross. This is named after a mining family of Ryans who worked in the pits for hundreds of years. In past times it was common for timber boards to be laid on the road at the crossroads so that the people from far afield could in the long summer evenings meet to enjoy themselves by dancing on the boards.
In 1637, about 120 square kilometres (30,000 acres) including Aughamucky were granted to Sir Christopher Wandesford by his cousin, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, the King's Lord Deputy of Ireland. Wandesforde laid out the town of Castlecomer. This became Ireland's first town built in stone and mortar. The Wandesford family started the coal mine there. In 1640 the first seam was opened.
The coal mines, which supplied anthracite coal, were known as the Deerpark Mines (the largest), The Vera (named after Vera Wandesforde) and The Rock near Glenmullen in Aughamucky.
In 1875 it was estimated that the seam had produced as much as 15 million tons of coal – a phenomenal amount for such a small seam. Despite this great physical achievement on behalf of the miners, their standard of living did not improve over the centuries.
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Wikipedia