The indefatigable Mary Mulvihill has produced a podcast guide to a Royal Canal walk, from Dunsink to Broombridge. The podcast is free to download as an MP3 file.
Its production was supported by Maths Week Ireland and the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering & Technology (IRCSET); it follows the annual walk to commemorate the achievement of Sir William Rowan Hamilton, who in 1843 invented a new type of algebra, quaternions, and wrote the equation on the bridge.
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Apologies to folk who have left Comments or otherwise communicated in recent weeks: I’ve been away, most recently at the far end of the Shannon and at Greenwich. I am now beginning to tackle my correspondence.
De Wadden
De Wadden formerly traded to the (Munster) Blackwater and is now displayed in a dry dock at Liverpool. I knew she was there, but I hadn’t known that the Kathleen & May, now on sale, was there too.
Kathleen & May
In Greenwich, I saw a bust of George Biddell Airy, late Astronomer Royal, whose work on the tides of the Shannon Estuary is of such great interest.
George Biddell Airy
Posted in Ashore, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Restoration and rebuilding, shannon estuary, Steamers, The cattle trade, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Airy, Blackwater, boats, De Wadden, Ireland, Kathleen & May, Shannon, tide, waterways
I see on this website that the curved building at Grand Canal Harbour in Dublin, is a protected structure.
Here is the roof in 2007:
The roof in 2007
Here is the roof in October 2011:
The roof in October 2011
I have asked the developers for their comments.
On a quick visit to Dublin, I managed to get a carless photo of the Broadstone MGWR station building.
The Broadstone building
The Irish Times reports that Rusal, current owners of the Aughinish Alumina plant, want to increase production. See the plant and its “waste storage facility” here (satellite view on a larger map is best):
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Non-waterway, Operations, shannon estuary, waterways
Tagged alumina, Aughinish, bauxite, estuary, Ireland, Rusal, Shannon
Book by Meitheal Mara being launched on 20 October 2011:
Galway possesses an immensely rich heritage of boats, beyond compare on the island of Ireland and significant in the wider European context. This book covers not only the well-known craft, the Curachs and Galway Hookers but also the lesser-known ones: the wooden angling boats of Lough Corrib; the ubiquitous Curach Adhmaid; the fishing boats – Lobster Boats, Trawlers and Half-Deckers; the Barges and Hire-cruisers of the Shannon; the Flats, Yawls and Curachs of the oyster fishery; the clinker punts and cots of the Shannon callows, and many more.
The book can be bought from the Meitheal Mara website.
This site has no commercial interest in the matter but I am happy to draw attention to books on aspects of Ireland’s waterways history and heritage.
Waterways Ireland tender documents are a source of interesting and occasionally useful information. At present WI is looking for tenders for
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, Restoration and rebuilding, Scenery, Sources, The turf trade, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged canal, Ireland, Operations, Royal Canal, Shannon, turf, waterways, Waterways Ireland, weir
Irish waterways history 