Page 99 - Greystones Archaeological Historical Society

GREYSTONES ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL VOLUME 8

hundred men digging on the bogs and the women washing
the sand and gravel in the streams. Three men found a
nugget of the amazing weight of 22 ounces. It is, indeed,
fortunate that most of the harvest was in before these gold
deposits were discovered; otherwise not a labourer could be
found.’

The nugget of 22 ounces
was made into a snuff box for
George III. Many smaller
nuggets were found and, until
stolen in 1865, one was on
view in the Royal Dublin
Society Museum. As closely
as can be estimated, about
800 ounces of gold may have
been extracted in the Wicklow
gold-rush.

After six weeks the Kildare
militia turned the prospectors
away and mounted guard
over the area. The British
Government secured an
Enabling Act from the Irish
Parliament and established a gold-washing plant. This was
destroyed three years later in the ‘98 Rebellion but during that
time it had worked at a profit and produced over 500 ounces of
gold.

Later attempts

Gold working resumed in 1800 and concentrated on the
digging of exploration trenches along the slopes of Croghan
Mountain. At one point a shaft was driven into the hillside.
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