The hole has developed in recent days on a road between Castletownbere and Allihies. Picture credit: Balooz.com

Watch: Large sinkhole appears on West Cork road

A LARGE sinkhole has opened up on a roadway on the Beara Peninsula.

The hole has developed in recent days on a road between Castletownbere and Allihies, at the location of a mineshaft.

Facebook video courtesy of Balooz.com

The area was a mining location for copper in the 19th century and early 20th century.

Community representative and candidate in the May local elections, Finbarr Harrington said there were no accidents as a result of the sinkhole. The hole has now been fenced off and the roadway is closed.

He said nobody knows how deep or long the mineshaft is.

“When they were mining in the area, the workers did a lot of speculating in the area as well,” he said, adding that heavy rain last week helped the sinkhole to develop.

Picture credit: Balooz.com

A small hole appeared on Friday but developed into a much larger one at the weekend. Mr Harrington said he hopes Cork County Council will repair the hole quickly.

“We had a few holes like this in the area in the past because of the mine shafts,” he said.