Dunlewey Marble Quarry 
Heritage Site(s)
- County:
- Donegal
- Townland:
- Dunlewy Near
- Status:
- Inactive
- Primary Rock Type:
- Marble
- Start Date:
- 1813ca.
- Owner/Operator(s):
- 1820ca.: Mr Walker; 1832: Dombrain, J.; 1848: Russell, James
- GSI Geoheritage Site Code:
- ND031
Part of:
Notes:
On the banks of Dunlewey, 6 miles E.S.E. of Gweedore Hotel (about thirty miles west of Londonderry), there was a vein of white, crystalline, saccaroid (dedolomite) marble surrounded by the Donegal Granite. The Donegal Granite was responsible for metamorphosing pure limestone into this marble.
This outcrop was discovered by James Russell on his estate in 1848 and he began working the stone. A bust of Henry Grattan in this stone was exhibited at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 and although the marble displayed fractures due to improper blasting of the procured block, it demonstrated 'the fine polish it is susceptible to' and 'resembled Parian marble in grain and finish'.
The western end of the seam was hard, coarse, pure white, durable rock which was used both as building stone and marble. Unfortunately, its coarsely crystalline nature ultimately rendered it unsuitable for statuary purposes, but it could be employed for non-elaborately carved ornamental work. It was mainly used for ordinary building. The eastern portion of the bed comprised cream coloured stone along with pink-, blue-, and green-tinted varieties in extremely thin beds that could only be raised in very small pieces with little commercial value. The quarry was only worked along the surface of the bed to a depth of approx. 20 ft.