What is recorded here

Hot iron and river mist mingled in the ruined forge beside Tommy Simpson's Lake, where pikes for the 1798 rebellion may have taken shape. The quarry mouth still holds a broad slag platform, and the small two-chambered building keeps its vitrified marks like a bruise from heat. What is known is the fire, the iron and the shape made for fighting; what is not known is whether that pike flew, broke or was never finished.

Located at the bottom of a N-facing slope and on the S bank of a small E-W stream c. 200m from where it enters Lough Allen at a bay known locally as Tommy Simpson's Lake. A two-chambered building (int. dims 6.4m x c. 4m), now ruined, shows traces of ironworking (vitrified material), and is probably 18th-century in date. It is situated within an overgrown disused quarry which is open to the N where slag was used to create a level platform (diam. c. 25m). It is thought that pikes for the 1798 rebellion were made at a forge here. (Clancy and Forde 1980, 35-6) The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Leitrim' compiled by Michael J. Moore (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2003). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 September 2008

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