Islands of Ireland: Mine of information on Horse Island

Wandering around Horse Island, visitors must take the utmost care lest they suffer the same fate as the numerous sheep that have fallen headlong to their doom down deep mine shafts, writes Dan MacCarthy.

There are several of them on the island, the remnants of the once-thriving copper industry on the island which operated from 1820 to 1874 as well as all along the Mizen Peninsula and which employed thousands of people.