Waterways of Ulster and thereabouts
Note that the Industrial Heritage Ireland website already covers some canals (and lots of other interesting material), and I don’t intend to duplicate any of that. See that site’s canals page for material on the Grand Canal’s abandoned Kilbeggan and Ballinasloe branches (and the Blackwood Feeder), the Royal Canal’s Bond Bridge, the Cong Canal, the Ulster Canal and Dukart’s Canal, as well as interesting old maps of the Lagan and the Grand Canal.
I’m trying to find out about my great grandfather who was the lock keeper at Erinagh on the old ?Limerick to Killaloe (a beautiful walk from O’Brien;s Bridge). He died in 1884 so must have been the lock keeper up until around then, when my grandfather seems to have taken over. Would you have records of lock keepers and where they originated. I’m really wondering where he came from or was he born in the Clonlara area. Would you be able to help? Thanks if so.
I’m emailing Liz directly about this.
bjg
I’m trying to get some information about the depth of the now filled lock in Portarlington. Would anyone be able to help me with that? Many thanks.
A bit of guesswork here …. I have a handwritten table, provenance unknown, which gives the height OD of the water above each lock on the system. Subtracting the height of the water above the 25th lock (Monasterevan) on the Barrow Line from the heights for the three locks on the Mountmellick Line, I get rises of ten foot (bottom lock), nine foot and nine foot. I haven’t had time to investigate this at great length, but I see that no figures are given for individual locks on the Mountmellick Line in Ruth Delany’s *The Grand Canal of Ireland* or in the *Guide to the Grand Canal*. Ruth does mention a minimum size of 5′ 3″ and this figure is repeated by Fred Hamond in the survey for Laois County Council, but I don’t know what the source was.
bjg
Just wanted to say well done on the site- absolutely fascinating. I have walked the full length of the Royal, Grand and Barrow in the last three years and they are so underused by walkers (apart from near built-up areas). delighted to see that others are also interested in them!!
Thanks, Dara. As you’ll have seen I haven’t attempted to cover the whole of the waterways, only the abandoned bits! If you ever find yourself down Limerick way, there are some excellent walks along the old Limerick Navigation. Unfortunately it isn’t all open to the public, but a lot of it is, and has much of historical interest. Other waterside walks are listed on the IWAI site at http://walks.iwai.ie/
bjg
I seek information about a six-oar barge named “St. Patrick” used in 1770 on Lower Lough Erne by Sir James Caldwell from Castle Caldwell on the lakes northern shore. I believe this is the vessel from which the fiddler Dennis McCabe fell and drowned–inspiring the Fiddler Stone now at the castle’s entrance.
Great site ! Answered my curiosity about the remains of canal on N72 near Mallow
Thanks very much. Mind you, I still haven’t solved all the mysteries about its beginning and end! bjg
There is a small amount of information in Arthur Young’s “A Tour in Ireland”, which you should be able to find free on the web. It might also be worth contacting Michael Clarke, the historian of the Lough Erne Yacht Club, via their website . bjg
“MARLOW RIVER”
I am interested in the history of the Marlow River a tributary, I believe, of the upper Suir River in Tipperary near Rossmore. Has your blog mentioned this river? I can find no information on it.
Thank you.
I don’t know much about it (it doesn’t seem to have been a navigable waterway, so it’s outside my usual scope), but you can see a Marlow River on the Ordnance Survey map. It flows into the Clodiagh (one of the Clodiaghs), which flows into the Suir. This link should get you to the confluence with the Clodiagh. You can look at the older maps using the selector on the right of the screen. If you follow the Marlow upstream to Coolanga Lower, you’ll see Rossmore (assuming the magnification and your screen size allow it) off to the left (west). If you find evidence that the river was used for carrying cargoes, do please let me know.
bjg
Hi Brian
sent you some photos of the River Nore one lot may have got throught but second lot did not may have overloaded the system.
Got them, thanks. Just back from the Erne so I’m still catching up but will open a Nore page soon. bjg
Hello, this is an e-mail from New Mexico (dry desert country!) My grandmother at age 16 ran away from a farm possibly near the Blackwater River where she was a worker and came to America via Elizabethtown port of departure in 1890s. She told me that the farmer and his wife chased after her and she crossed a body of water to escape them. I believe she walked all the way to the dock to board the vessel bound for New York. Her name is Mary Elizabeth Powers. I do not know the place of birth but have traced her origins to the Blackwater area. She also told me that as a child she recalls seeing the boots of Black & Tan soldiers marching past from her hiding place. I would love to find out more, Can you help me? information as possible.