John W Freeman of Donadea, near Naas, Co Kildare, has very kindly sent me a copy of his third book, Reflections through a Parish Window, which he published in November 2010, and tells me that he is at work on his fourth book. As usual, his third has several items of waterways interest from the land between the canals: Donadea is south of the Royal and north of the Grand.
John gives special thanks to Essie Conroy of Lowtown (19th Lock), who died in September 2010. There is an article (p111 et seq) about her grandparents, Murt and Mary Murphy; Murt, originally from Ballycowan near Tullamore, died in 1922 aged 73. The Lowtown section also includes photos of a model flyboat, the wooden canal boat 104B (Maid of Erin, owned by Roches of Tullamore) and Essie Conroy with one of Ted Barrett’s boats at Lock 19. Her husband John Conroy is pictured on p123.
There is a photo of another wooden canal boat at Lowtown. It has the name Ocean Star written across its stern and what look like horizontal wooden slots on both sides of the rudder. The crew are named as William Connolly and his son Patrick, with Thomas Murphy (Essie Conroy’s father) standing on the bow holding a rope.
Other Grand Canal items include a photograph of 31M at Landenstown (p56) and two photos of Robertstown, one undated (p120) and the other taken in 1895 (p116). There is a photo of the Royal at Kilcock (p64), perhaps taken in the 1980s, and a short article about the Royal with a photo of Lock 1 (pp137–8). There is even a photo of Guinness Liffey barges of, I think, the first fleet (p68).
Perhaps the most surprising item is a photograph from the Irish Press of 23 October 1947 with this caption:
Propeller-driven “water-bike”, built by motor and cycle mechanic Patrick Kennedy, of Corduff, Co Kildare, to contact his clients in their village homes along the Grand Canal. Comfortably seated on the kitchen chair “tandem seat” is Christie Brereton, Patrick’s assistant, enlivening the pair’s progress with his accordion. These mechanics say that they will perfect this style of transport for river and lake travel.
The photograph is a little blurred, but the two men can be seen clearly, with Patrick in front clasping the handlebars. The structure of the craft seems to include at least two 40-gallon drums but the steering and propulsion methods are not specified. If anyone has any more information about this craft, do please leave a Comment below.
All in all, a lot of very interesting material once again, and I am looking forward to John’s fourth book.
Irish waterways history 
Hi,
harking back to this old post have you any idea where I might purchase any of John W Freeman’s books ?
Amazon don’t have them and Google turned up nothing on either the author or the title
I greatly enjoy you regular posts. Might not agree with all you espouse but diversity of opinion is essential and enjoyable in any ‘forum’
Many thanks
Paul Mc Cann
Paul: I’ll email you direct with John Freeman’s contact details. bjg
I am trying to get hold of John W Freeman third book, Reflections through a Parish Window as my father would love it. Like the above poster, I cant seem to find it on Google/Amazon, Could you direct me as to where I can buy it?
I would really appreciate your help xx Kathleen
Kathleen: I’ll email you direct. bjg
Hi,
Do you know if this book is still available?
John and Essie Conroy are my grand-uncle and grand-aunt, so I would be particularly interested in the Lowtown part.
Regards
Eoghan
I’ve emailed you direct with the author’s contact details. bjg
Hi,
Could you please pass on John Freeman’s contact details?
Thanks,
OH
Not without (a) his permission and (b) some information about who you are. bjg
Hi,
My aunt Mary Keane, met John at her brother in law’s funeral (Derek Keane RIP) and has lost John’s contact details and asked me to see if I could find them for her.
Regards
OH
I have emailed you direct about this. bjg
Unfortunately I have not received your direct mail.
I’ve sent it again to o**********y@gmail.com. bjg
The direct mail is not arriving, nor is it in junk. However the mail alerts from the website are arriving so the email data is correct.
I shall detail a separate email in this response.
OK: I’ve tried again to the new email address. I’ve changed the subject to “John Freeman”. bjg