The Life and Times of the Glendalough Mines
A 55 minute documentary about lead and zinc mining in the Glendalough and Glendasan valleys, told by the people who worked there.
What it is about
Glendalough is known for its scenery and its associations with St Kevin. Less well known is that the Glendalough and Glendasan valleys hold a long mining history, with lead and zinc extracted from the rock there right up until 1957.
The documentary brought former miners together to share their memories of the work, alongside interviews with local residents, a geology expert and a mining historian. It charts the story from the earliest workings of the 1800s through to the final closure in the late 1950s.
It was commissioned by the Glendalough Mining Heritage Project and released on DVD in December 2006, the first time much of this material had been recorded.
Credits and specifications
- Director, cinematographer and editor: Keith Malone
- Writer: Joan Kavanagh
- Production company: Keith Malone Video Productions
- Commissioned by: Glendalough Mining Heritage Project
- Released: 7 December 2006 (Ireland)
- Runtime: 55 minutes
- Genre: Documentary
- Country of origin: Ireland
- Language: English
- Filming location: County Wicklow, Ireland
- Format: Colour, 4:3
The film is listed on IMDb: The Life and Times of the Glendalough Mines (2006).
Filmed a few miles from home
Glendalough and Glendasan are in County Wicklow, a short drive from Roundwood where I live and work. Filming this meant walking the valleys with people who had worked in them, which is a different kind of documentary job from anything you can research from a desk.
The habits are the same ones I still work by: turn up, stay quiet, and let people tell you what happened rather than directing them towards the version you had in mind.
More about me and how I work is on the about page, and I still film in the same county as a Wicklow wedding videographer.