Ireland’s last remaining slate quarry is preparing to resume exports, with an order for 30 tonnes of roofing slate due to be shipped to California in the US.
Valentia Slate, which first opened on Valentia Island in 1816, is one of the oldest businesses in the country.
More than 200 years later, the business continues to operate underground in the Co Kerry countryside.
Slate from the quarry has been used to roof and floor some of the world’s most famous buildings, including the Houses of Parliament in London, Westminster Abbey and Cathedral, and Paris Opera House.
At its peak the quarry employed more than 400 people.
A rockfall in 1911 forced the closure of the quarry until 1991, but the last five years have seen significant investment in automation.
Aidan Forde said the slate is one of ‘two world heritage stone resources’ in Ireland
Geologist Aidan Forde is the current owner of Valentia Slate.
He has overseen the investment and is preparing for the first export of slate from the quarry in more than 150 years – a 30-tonne shipment to California.
“It’s a very, very versatile material and always has been, and it has that good combination of being very strong, being very splitable at the same time, but very inert,” Mr Forde said.
“So, it doesn’t – like marble, for example – erode with rain water,” he said.
“Its strength and its inertness that have really given it its qualities,” he added.
Mr Forde said that in Ireland there are “two world heritage stone resources”.
“One is Conamara marble, that everybody knows, and the other one is Valentia slate,” he said.
“We got that designation about two years ago and we’re very happy about that,” he added.
Dermot Keating said the quarry makes a valuable contribution to the local economy
Dermot Keating, who is from nearby Portmagee and has worked at Valentia Slate for the past 20 years, said it is intrinsically linked with the history of the area.
“It’s a big achievement really for a small company,” Mr Keating said, adding “it’s really good for the locality” and every business, ” especially in south Kerry”.
“There’s not much work here apart from tourism, it’s really good because whatever money is being spent is being spent in the area,” he added.
The quarry produces around 1,000 tonnes of slate every year and the company plans to continue to expand and to grow its exports.