- Kilkenny Marble
The City of
Kilkenny is often referred to as "The Marble City". The foothpaths of the city streets were paved with marble flagstones, which, when wet, glistened. On dark, wet, winter evenings the street lights reflected from the foothpath which were highly polished with wear.Marble , defined as crystalline limestone capable of taking a polish, was quarried just outsideKilkenny City at a place known asThe Black Quarry , due to the colour of the final product. Large rough-hewn blocks were transported on horse-drawn drays to theRiver Nore a short distance away, then onto small river floats or barges and brought about 3 kilometers down-river toMilmount where it was worked. A weir on the river provided water to drive reciprocating, cross-cut type, saws to cut the larger blocks into the finished shapes required for the market. The saws were actually steel bands, about four meters long. Sand was used as an abrasive cutting agent.The
Black Quarry is known to have been in use since the 17th century. The quarry was filled-in in the 1970's, but a cliff face still remains exposed and can be seen from theBennettsbridge road. Water levels were kept low by two steel 30cm. dia reciprocating pumps, probably driven by steam. Alime kiln was located close by which produced lime from the stone chips and off-cuts. Coal, probably fromCastlecomer , twelve kilometers north of Kilkenny, layered with stone and set to smoulder, produced white chunks of lime, which, when powdered was used as an agricultural fertilizer.Black Kilkenny marble is a finely grained carboniferous limestone that can show fossils.
The quarry was owned by the Colles family, a famous member being Professor
Abraham Colles who gave his name to theColles' fracture .As well as in several local buildings, Kilkenny
Black Marble was used in theCobh Cathedral inCobh ,Co. Cork . The headstone ofDaniel O'Connell inGlasnevin Cemetery ,Dublin is also made ofKilkenny Marble .From the top of the
Black Quarry as it is today, Oliver Cromwell is said to have positioned cannons and fired on the city.References
*cite book|last=Pavía|first=Sara|coauthors=and Jason Bolton|title=Stone, Brick and Mortar: Historical Use, Decay and Conservation of Building Materials in Ireland|year=2000|publisher=Wordwell|location=Bray, Co. Wicklow|id=ISBN 1-869857-32-1
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