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Conlig in County Down was once the site of a thriving lead mine.

In the years leading up to the outbreak of war it attracted the interest of a German company. In 1914 one of the Germans, Paul Wentzel, was arrested on suspicion of spying.

The Conlig mine had been in operation from the mid-1800s, but by the early 1900s it was no longer commercially viable. Then, in 1910, a German company attempted to raise investment for a scheme to extract lead from the slag heaps remaining from Conlig’s heyday.

The German venture failed some years before Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914. The employees left Conlig - all but Paul Wentzel.

As the war began propaganda, paranoia and patriotism combined to create an atmosphere of deep distrust of foreigners.

According to the County Down Spectator of 14 August 1914, Paul Wentzel’s movements had ‘aroused the suspicions of the authorities and shortly after noon on Friday District Inspector Gerity, accompanied by Sergeant Philips and Constable Donnelly of Bangor, proceeded to the Mine Hill, and placed him under arrest, charging him with an offence under the Official Secrets Act of 1911’.

The Newtownards Chronicle reported that at his trial ‘the accused made a good speech in his defence’.

Against the odds Wentzel was found not guilty. Yet he was not to be free. The Northern Whig noted ‘we understand that Wentzel was detained by the authorities and will be removed to an alien concentration camp’.

Bob McKinley, Chairman of Bangor Historical Society and Project Assistant with The Somme Heritage Centre at Conlig, has studied Wentzel’s story.

Location: Lead mine at Conlig, County Down, BT23 7PH
Image of the mine at Conlig circa 1900
Image courtesy of Bangor Historical Society

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