Page 100 - Greystones Archaeological Historical Society

WICKLOW GOLD

These labours were abandoned in 1803, but in this period the
stream gravels lower down had yielded a further 400 ounces.

We know that in 1840 a body called the Crockford Mining
Company acquired the mineral rights and in a few months
recovered 600 ounces.

One nugget weighed eleven ounces and The Mining Journal
reported that ‘every flood carries down particles to the common
stream and the properties of the ores are very like those of the
gold country of South Africa’.

Later the Carysford Mining Company worked on the site and
there have been a number of personal ventures started under
the lure of Wicklow gold.

Some hope

A Mr. St. John Lyburn traced veins near the top of the
mountain in 1899 which gave four pennyweights to the ton but
considered that extraction would not be commercially profitable.

Occasional washings have been made in recent times, not
with much success, but the summer rambler who would like to
do a little spare time prospecting can take heart from the words
of two geologists. ‘The possibilities of these gravels,’ said Mr.
Malcolm Maclaren in 1903, ‘are, as far as I am aware, absolutely
unknown’; and Mr. Hallissey, the Director of the Geological
Survey of Ireland, addressing the International Geological
Association in 1929 said: ‘Many geologists think the possibilities
are by no means exhausted.’

At Arklow Head, near where the Avoca meets the coast, the
black sand shows even now the evidence, very faint but certain,
that WickIow rivers still bear some tribute towards the sea.

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