Her Late Majesty Victoria, by the grace of god of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, had at least two locks named after her on this island: one at Meelick on the Shannon and the other at Upper Fathom on the Newry Ship Canal. This page gives a brief account of the canal’s history; it has links at the bottom to six pages (made up almost entirely of photographs) on aspects of the lock and its operation. Several of those aspects are not clear to me and I would welcome enlightenment about both the former manual operations and the current hydraulic operations.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Natural heritage, Operations, People, Restoration and rebuilding, Scenery, Sources, Waterways management
Tagged Albert, basin, Carlingford, Ireland, lock, Newry, Northern Ireland, ship canal, upper fathom, Victoria
Where is it?
Here is an account of the background to, and the main features of, the proposed supply of water from Lough Ennell to the summit level of the Royal Canal. It does not discuss the amounts of water involved; I intend to cover that on a separate page.
Posted in Extant waterways, Operations, Scenery, Industrial heritage, Sources, Weather, Economic activities, Ashore, Restoration and rebuilding, Natural heritage, Built heritage, Engineering and construction, Tourism, Waterways management, Politics, Ireland, waterways, Drainage
Tagged Operations, Ireland, waterways, Shannon, canal, boats, Waterways Ireland, Royal Canal, water supply, lock, floods, water level, flow, weir, Dublin, anglers, abstraction, An Bord Pleanála, mills, Lough Owel, Lough Ennell, summit level, Lilliput, trout
I mentioned the other day that extensive searches of tinterweb had failed to find any data on the heights of overhead power lines above the Shannon and that I had been forced to resort to the telephone.
I am pleased to report that the ESB expert duly rang me back today, and further pleased to report that he had himself measured the height of every cable over the Shannon. Oh joy, oh happiness, I thought. But not for long.
The ESB, it seems, does not reveal the actual height of power lines above the water. This, if I understood the reasoning correctly, is because the water level varies and a boat-owner might not understand that, hit a line with a mast and then sue the ESB [where "ESB" means "electricity transmission or distribution operation"]. I have been told that a boat-owner in coastal water did just that (presumably between the mainland and an island) and that the lawyers have advised ESB to take no further risk; I would welcome information about the incident.
So, if you want to find the height of a power line, you’ll need to polish up your trigonometry (and then relate the height to Ordinary Summer Level). But the ESB does supply the information to one organisation that makes charts: the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office. That’s OK for coastal charts, but the UKHO (to the best of my knowledge) has not surveyed the inland Shannon since 1839, and I don’t think its inland charts have been updated since then. It is possible, of course, that the UKHO supplies the data to other (electronic or paper) chart-makers; I have emailed them to ask.
The quest continues again. More info when I get it.
Posted in Extant waterways, Operations, Irish inland waterways vessels, Industrial heritage, Sources, shannon estuary, Economic activities, Ashore, Built heritage, Engineering and construction, Waterways management, Politics, Ireland, waterways, Shannon
Tagged Operations, Ireland, waterways, Shannon, boats, vessels, ESB, Lough Derg, water level, transmission, overhead power line, height, clearance, OSL
Went out without the camera today, alas, and found Waterways Ireland crews at work at the canal harbour in Limerick. One crew had launched a Pioner Multi (I didn’t see them do it, alas, but it may have come on the back of a truck with a HIAB or suchlike) and were hauling rubbish out of the water. Another were welding new railings to prevent access to the old hotel/canal manager’s house and installing a steel plate in a window aperture on one of the Shannon Navigation buildings.
I presume the new plate will soon be decorated. I rather like the artwork, I must say, and I think it a pity that Young Folk should not have somewhere to go to do the things that Young Folk like to do.
Posted in Forgotten navigations, Operations, Non-waterway, Scenery, Industrial heritage, Economic activities, Ashore, Charles Wye Williams, Built heritage, Engineering and construction, Waterways management, Ireland, waterways, Shannon
Tagged Operations, Shannon, Limerick, Waterways Ireland, harbour, workboat, lock, Park Canal
Posted in Forgotten navigations, Operations, The turf trade, Industrial heritage, Sources, Economic activities, Ashore, People, Built heritage, Engineering and construction, Waterways management, Politics, Ireland, waterways, Drainage
Tagged Ireland, waterways, Shannon, canal, boats, vessels, harbour, workboat, bridge, Lough Key, Rockingham
