Little Island Marble Quarries 
Heritage Site(s)
- County:
- Cork
- Townland:
- Wallingstown, Ballytrasna
- Status:
- Inactive
- Primary Rock Type:
- Limestone
- Start Date:
- 1850s
- Owner/Operator(s):
- 1850s: Cantillon, John; 1864ca.-early 1900s: Cantillon, Denis
Part of:
Notes:
Red marble, intended for Queen Anne of Denmark's house at Greenwich, was extracted on Little Island as early as the beginning of the seventeenth century. Construction of this dwelling began in 1616 under the direction of architect Inigo Jones. Although there is no evidence of the marble being utilised at Greenwich there is a record that Richard Boyle, first earl of Cork, "Paid Der Water of the little Iland [Little Island] for bringing 25 tonnes of Ranse stoan [Cork Red Marble] for her Majesty from the quarry to the sea syde." (Rynne, 2017).
Situated north-west of the Rock Farm Limestone Quarries, Cork Red Marble raised from the Little Island Marble Quarries was known as 'Park Red Marble'. These quarries, producing both Cork Red Marble and Midleton Red, were operated by the Cantillons from the middle of the nineteenth century into the early twentieth century. By the time of publication of The Geology of the County around Cork and Cork Harbour by GSI surveyor George W. Lamplugh in 1905, Midleton was nominated as the principal locality for Cork Red Marble quarrying and the marbles formerly obtained from Little Island were deemed no longer productive.