Geographer Susan Hegarty visits one of Ireland’s most remote regions to rediscover the extensive copper mines of Allihies. With our team of experts, she gets unique access to a subterranean world, and explores the scale of industrial activity in a West Cork Valley. At its peak, 1,600 miners dug for copper in the Berehaven Copper Mines on the Beara peninsula. It was the largest copper deposit in Europe at the time and the introduction of steam engine technology increased productivity. The iconic steam engine houses, now in ruins, once serviced a labyrinth of mineshafts below.