Allihies Copper Mines Museum & Copper Cáfe

Allihies, the last village at the end of the beautiful Beara Peninsula sits between an impressive rocky mountain range and the rugged Atlantic coast. The saying ‘a view around every corner’ certainly applies here. The panorama from Barnes gap is unforgettable and as you descend towards the village through the small fields, the Man Engine house at the Mountain Mine stands out on the grey mountain ahead. Allihies Copper Mine Museum, at the foot of the village, bears witness to the phenomenal copper mining industry at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution that changed the land and people of Allihies forever.

The Museum takes the visitor through the story from the beginning in 1812 to the eventual wind down in the early 1880s. From the first tentative steps at Dooneen to the arrival of the Cornish to Allihies throughout the 1820s. It takes you through the great famine in the late 1840s to the mass emigration of the 1850s and 60s in ‘coffin ships’ to the new world of America; most made a new life from themselves in Leadville Colorado and Butte Montana, never again to see Allihies or Ireland.

Follow your Museum visit with a tasty fresh lunch at the Copper Café. The Café is a bustling place in the summer. With seating indoors and outdoors customers can savour coffee and a cake or a delicious seafood lunch and a glass of wine. The sensory garden is an oasis of peace and tranquility where you can enjoy amazing views over the Allihies countryside and the stunning Ballydonegan Beach. The Café offers a full lunch menu to eat in or take out.

During the summer season the Café and Gallery walls are hung with works of art for sale highlighting local, national and international artists. See facebook for information on all exhibitions.