Nenagh mining houses research appeal
Sixtieth anniversary of Ballygraigue and Knights Crescent
The Mogul Mine housing estates project created 84 new homes in Nenagh between 1964 and 1965, a considerable feat of building in a small provincial town.
Working with the newly created National Building Society, Mogul acquired the lands necessary for two developments on the outskirts of the town. Knights Crescent was planned for the Canadian company’s management team and their families, while the higher density terraced homes at Ballygraigue were developed for the skilled labour force.
The Mogul mining operation at Silvermines employed some 500 workers overall. The economic boon it brought to the Nenagh area is well-documented.
Greg Finnegan has extensively researched the Mogul mining story and the background to the development of Knights Crescent and Ballygraigue. He is interested in telling the story of the first people to live in those houses.
He has spoken to several local people who worked the mines over the years, engaged with Silvermines Historical Society, and trawled thought the planning archives of Tipperary Co Council as part of his study. He has written about how the managers’ homes were “Canadianized” with such features as North American power points, which can still be seen in the houses; some of them are still live.
Greg has also written about the surprisingly flat-roofed houses built when Ballygraigue was created in 17 terrace blocks of four units each.
A Community Liaison with SIGA Hydro Ltd, the company behind the plan to build a major hydro-electric power plant on the Silvermines mountains, Greg has as much interest in the past as he does the future of the former mining area. His research on the Ballygraigue and Knights Crescent estates is a personal academic study, as distinct to a SIGA Hydro project.
On this the 60th anniversary of the planning and building of those homes, Greg would like to talk to residents of the time as part of his project. He is also looking for photographs of both estates from the 1960s. He may in time organise a public lecture on the subject.
FURTHER DETAILS
Greg is inviting anyone that might be able to help to contact him at yukongreg1956@gmail.com.