Shankill Flagstone Quarry 
Heritage Site(s)
- County:
- Kilkenny
- Townland:
- Shankill
- Status:
- Inactive
- Primary Rock Type:
- Siltstone
- Start Date:
- Owner/Operator(s):
- Aylward, James C.; 1840s: Singleton, John; 1903: Scanlon, John
Notes:
Situated approximately 2km NE of Shankill Castle, Paulstown, Co. Kilkenny. Has buildings associated with it which may be cutting sheds. Wilkinson (1845, p. 210) listed the stratigraphic sequence from top to the base of the quarry: Soil (1 foot); loose, rubble rock (40 feet); Flags (6 feet); Rubble rock (10 feet); Flags (12 feet); Rock, two beds of 3 feet each (6 feet); Flags (4 feet); Rock (0 feet); Total thickness 79 feet. It extended 1 acre but by Griffith's Valuation had increased to just over 6 acres.
Flags from Shankill were considered the best, and were raised between 0.5 and 4 inches in thickness, up to 14 foot square from three dipping flaggy units in the quarry. More usually flags were finished 8-10 feet by 3-4 feet in dimension. In the 1840s flags less than 1 inch in thickness were supplied at 6d per yard, more than 1 in thickness 1s per yard, and the 4 inch variety 2s per yard. Following transportation the costs for the flagging had risen at Kilkenny 1s 9d per yard and at Callan 2s 2d (Wilkinson 1845). In 1892 the cost of supplying flagstones to Carlow was 2s 6d per square yard (Nationalistic and Leinster Times 21.05.1892, p. 5). By the 1880s they were more expensive to produce than formerly on account of the increased thickness of the bearing or volume of over-burden requiring removal to reach the flagstone levels
The flags 4 inches in thickness were used for tombstones and chimneypieces and were capable of being rubbed smooth and polished (Wilkinson 1845). In the 1911 census a number of locals described themselves as 'Flag Miners'. Variant name: 'Shankell'. Stone to be transported from the flagstone quarries at Shankill, Coorleagh and Kellymount was transported by cart to Royal Oak and loaded onto barges at the Wells Flagstone Quay (Anon. 2017, p. 51)