amended from an article written by Sean J White.

A SOUTH DUBLIN TOWER

The tall slim tower that stands on the slopes of Carrickgolligan, looking down on the Vale of Shanganagh and the sea between Bray and Killiney, is a feature of South County Dublin and a puzzle to the Thousands who have never gone up to find out what it is. The best approach is from the back, from the Dublin-Enniskerry road.  From Kilternan village (Statoil Garage)  head south towards Enniskerry and take the second left (first road is Ballycorus road)  down Barnaslingan Lane. Veer gently around to the right. Follow the road for over a mile.  You will come to a left hand turn (on the right is a carpark for Barnaslingan Wood)  Turn left and the top of the hill brings you to the forestry boundary fence.  There is another carpark on the left hand side.  Park and walk up from there.

The tower, a tall stack of random granite with a spiral stairs wrapped around it, is actually the chimney of Ballycorus lead mine.  The picture to the right shows how it looked at the turn of the last century.  The top third was removed as it was deemed unsafe.. The stairs are now interrupted but even from the ground them is a fine view over Killiney, Dublin Bay, Howth Head and beyond to Ireland’s Eye and Lambay. In the first quarter of the 19th century the Ballycorus lead mine was one of the most important of the Dublin and Wicklow group of mines. Not only were lead and silver mined directly on the spot but “dressed” ore was brought by horse and cart from Glendalough and other Wicklow mines for processing here. Up to the 1920s ore was melted and converted into ingots, the silver separated and refined, and litharge, red lead and shot manufactured. The chimney with its attendant flue which runs a mile or so westward downhill and which may still be traced, carried off the poisonous substances and the noxious fumes from the smelting process and deposited them in the air about 900 feet above sea level. On a regularbasis workmen cleaned the flue by removing sulphate of lead in barrows through the various doors which ventilated it. The refineiy premises, now in modern industrial use, still exists in the valley below. The walls of the silver refinery, the assay office, and the stores for the ore which was brought from Co.Wicklow are still there. The iron railings which guard the winding stairs of the tower were removed within recent memory and the stairs themselves gapped in their lower part to prevent access.   A more acceptable solution could be to restore the rail and steps to provide a proper visitors’ look-out over the beauties of Dublin Bay.

The area around the tower is a pleasant picnic spot. There is a delightful grassy walk from hereto the knobby quartzite hump of the summit of Carrickgolligan (locally and popularly corrupted to “KattyGollagher”). For children and the active it is a short and steep scramble up to another worthwhile view at 912 feet, and if you come down by the Southside you pass an interesting plaque erected to a certain Dr. Alcock by his friends.