Documentary sheds light on life of miners in West Cork village 

The village of Allihies on the Beara Peninsula was once a bustling mining community.

In the early 1800s, landlord John Puxley discovered copper and founded the Allihies Mining Company, which led to a surge in population, with more than 1,500 miners and additional settlers drawn by job opportunities.

Before IKEA popularised flatpack furniture, miners’ huts were shipped flatpack from Pennsylvania to Cork in the 1800s for the new residents of Allihies. 

Now, some of that wood has been skillfully crafted into a model miners’ hut by the Allihies Men’s Shed.

The story of how this wood reached the Men’s Shed is the intriguing focus of a short documentary, Reclaimed To Remember, produced by the Cork-based company Wombat Media, run by husband-and-wife team Ciara Buckley and David Slowo.

The documentary will have a special screening on Sunday, July 13, in Allihies Hall.

It was a phone call from Allihies resident and local historian Anne McNally that introduced Wombat’s producer, Buckley, to the unusual story of an Allihies miners’ hut in Skibbereen.

“McNally, a wonderful historian from Allihies, contacted me to say there was a wooden house in Skibbereen that was due for demolition, and that the house was made from wood that was originally used as a miners’ house in Allihies,” said Buckley. “The family that owned the house, the Roycrofts, was giving the wood to the Allihies Men’s Shed, who decided to make a replica model of a miner’s hut for the Allihies Mining Museum. I knew straight away that this was something we wanted to document.”

Around 1916, William Wood, a West Cork auctioneer, bought the wood from the Allihies Mines, selling much of it, but he built a large bungalow in Skibbereen which would eventually become the family home of the Roycroft family.

George Roycroft, who grew up in the bungalow, says that although his home was vastly different from any other in the area, he never realised how special it was until later in life.

“My grandfather Nelson, who was a merchant and miller, bought the house from Wood after the Second World War, and my parents lived in it from when they got married in 1950. We never gave it a thought growing up.

“When you see it all your life, it becomes normal, but when people visited, we would realise that there was something special about it from seeing how they reacted to it.”

Roycroft says he and his son took the bungalow apart sympathetically and made a remarkable discovery.

“We found auctioneering posters in an internal wall dated 1916 onwards. They were advertising sales of land, cattle, and fair days. Wood must have put them in when he was building the bungalow.”

The property has lived many lives, from its early days in Pennsylvania as a flatpack hut to serving as a miners’ home in Allihies and its many years in Skibbereen. However, Roycroft says that it was time to let it go.

“People have asked if I was sad to see the old house go, but it’s a new beginning for my son and his family. There’s a continuation of the family on the land, which my parents would have loved. The old house was deteriorating, and there was little we could have done to keep it going. It served its course. It housed two or three generations of Roycrofts and who knows how many miners when it was in Allihies.”

David Dudley, the co-ordinator of Allihies Men’s Shed, says their purpose is to engage local people in their work and that local stories attract the most interest.

“We’re always involved in community projects, but tend to concentrate on nostalgic projects. We live in such a remote area, yet we have a rich heritage. We’re committed to social inclusion and combating isolation, especially in rural areas. If the project is related to our past, it encourages people to talk, and that’s one of our primary goals.”

Dudley says the documentary offers a fresh perspective on how Allihies Mine can be remembered.

“Between the model in the museum and the documentary, this story can be told long into the future. It is great for the mine and Allihies, but it is also great for the men’s shed to have this document of their work.

“It was a fun project to work on, from researching what the miners’ hut would have looked like, to building it, and then adding miniature features like tools outside the house. Stories like this should be remembered.”

The story of Roycroft’s bungalow has reached a wider audience. When the Allihies mine closed, around 2,000 people left Beara to find work in mines in Colorado and Butte, Montana. The Montana one became the largest copper mine in the world, and today, surnames from Cork can be found throughout the state.

The men’s shed has crafted a table from the wood from the Roycroft bungalow, which was delivered by Dudley, Roycroft, and a delegation from Cork to civic representatives in Montana, as well as the miners’ descendants.

McNally, who brought the Roycroft-Allihies connection to Buckley’s attention, says that growing up, she knew little about the mine.

“I was born and raised here, and growing up, we were all aware of the existence of the mines. My mother and father would have called the village of Allihies ‘the mines,’ as would all their generation. We were also aware that the ruins of a church at the bottom of the village were associated with the mines, but beyond that, we knew nothing.”

McNally set out to preserve Allihies’ history and the story of the mines lives on.

“Nearly 30 years ago, a group of people, including myself, decided we had to do something about its history. We were keenly aware that, without action, history could be lost.

“Today, we have a museum, connections with fellow museums in Montana, and this documentary to contribute to our legacy.”

Reclaimed To Remember has a special screening on Sunday, July 13, in Allihies Hall.