Madam, - Your edition of August 22nd included a very interesting Irishman's Diary by Paul Normoyle about the lead workings at Ballycorus, in south Co Dublin. He referred to the health of the workers, to which little attention seems to have been paid. About 1943 I attended one of the last of these workers in his final illness. He showed all the classic symptoms of chronic lead poisoning: pallor, wrist drop, neuralgia and the distinctive "lead line" along his gums.
About the same time my then girlfriend and I were able to enter the shaft of the tower and scramble almost the whole length of the tunnel to the building where the ore was processed. Our progress was stopped by a barrier which was probably one of the baffles referred to by Mr Normoyle to collect the valuable lead dust. Old residents of Bray told me that they remembered smoke coming from the chimney during the first World War when, presumably, the workings became useful for producing lead shot.
In 1892 plans were put forward for the building of a national sanatorium. The choice of a site lay between Ballycorus and Newcastle. The medical committee decided in favour of Ballycorus. But Lady Zetland, wife of the Lord Lieutenant, threatened to withdraw her influence and subscriptions unless the Newcastle site was selected. Incredible as it now seems, the committee allowed themselves to be bullied into compliance and a site involving, in those days, a long and tiring journey for patients and their visitors was chosen.
In the publicity about the opening ceremony great prominence was given to Lady Zetland, while Florence Wynne, whose idea of a national sanatorium was the origin of the scheme, was neglected. - Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN FLEETWOOD, Proby Square, Blackrock, Co Dublin.