Arigna (Irish: An Airgnigh, formerly Carn an Ailt) is a village in the far north of County Roscommon in the west of Ireland.

It is near Lough Allen (on the River Shannon), on a designated scenic route between Keadue and Sliabh an Iarainn.

[2] ".. Carn Analt in the valley of the Arigna river two and a half miles from the southern shore of the lake".

At the beginning of the 17th century, the iron was smelted at Arigna in newly built ironworks, using charcoal, which was burnt from the wood of the forests around.

But as no organised tree planting took place and the timber eventually ran out, the ironworks had to be closed at the end of the 17th century.

[7] The completion of the Royal Canal allowed for the supply and sale of Arigna coal at 10 shillings per ton.

The station was built specifically to burn the semi bituminous coal with its high ash content.

The men often had to lie on their backs in water, using a handpick or short-handled shovel to get at a thin seam of coal under a ledge of rock."

Leyden describes how a religious picture was placed at the pit entrance and that the "coal-miners blessed themselves at this spot before they went underground.

Strangers who visited the mines out of curiosity often found the experience of the mineshaft so frightening they never got past the picture".

[12] In April 2009, a musical celebration of Arigna's mining heritage, Scars On the Mountain was launched by RTÉ, Ireland's state broadcaster.