placenamesSlievemargy
Sliabh Mairge
The nineteenth-century coalfield combined steam drainage with horse-powered coal raising.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Sliabh Mairge · Irish · main form · non-validated name
- Slievemargy · English · main form
Place & story
Two kinds of mine power
Samuel Lewis placed the beginning of the county’s coal formation at Slievemargy in his 1837 account. Across the Laois portion of the coalfield, he recorded sixty-four pits working in summer 1836 and employment for seven hundred men. Five steam engines removed water, while horses raised most of the coal. These are coalfield totals, rather than a count confined to the barony. Lewis identified maltsters, brewers, distillers and smiths as its buyers, with coal carried chiefly in one-horse carts. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Slievemargy. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Queen’s County Geology: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-09-19. How this page was prepared.