The Copper Coast: Engine Houses and the Metal Man

The Copper Coast Geopark runs for about 25 kilometres of the Waterford coast from Kilfarrasy to Stradbally, and was the first geopark designated in Ireland: rocks formed by volcanic activity some 460 million years ago, with dolmens, Iron Age forts and medieval churches on top, and the ruins of 19th-century copper mining on the cliffs. The geopark's visitor centre is in the old Monksland church at Knockmahon, and the engine house at Tankardstown stands on the cliffs. East along the coast, after the transport Sea Horse foundered in Tramore Bay in January 1816, Lloyd's paid for navigation pillars on the headlands, put up in 1823 — three on Newtown Head, one of them topped by the Metal Man pointing out to sea.