Category Archives: Engineering and construction

Revising the Royal

Posted on Friday 22 February 2013 | 1 comment

Ewan Duffy of IndustrialHeritageIreland and I have both, in recent times, uncovered new information about the history of the Royal Canal after it was taken over by the Midland Great Western Railway in 1845: a period that, because (I think) of the absence of company archives, is not well covered in published histories of the Royal. Ewan today said that he will be posting new material about the stretch from Lock 1 to Lock 5 on 30 March 2013, so watch that space.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Non-waterway, Operations, Rail, Restoration and rebuilding, Steamers, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged boats, bridge, canal, Dublin, Ewan Duffy, industrial heritage ireland, Ireland, lock, MGWR, railway, Royal Canal

Dargan, O’Regan, steam and the Newry Canal

Posted on Wednesday 20 February 2013 | Leave a comment

I wrote here about Simon O’Regan’s passenger-carrying screw steamer tried on the Grand Canal in Dublin in 1850. I am grateful to John Ditchfield for pointing me to an article about what happened next: steam trials on the Newry Canal in 1850, but this time with a lumber (freight) boat.

I would welcome more information about Simon O’Regan or about the use of steam power on the Newry Canal.

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Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Rail, Restoration and rebuilding, Sources, Steamers, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged barge, belfast, boats, bridge, canal, carrying, Clones, Erne, funnel, Grand Canal, Ireland, lighter, Lisburn, Liverpool, lock, Lough Erne, Lough Neagh, lumber-boat, McCutcheon, Moyallon, Newry, Newry Canal, Operations, passage boat, Portadown, Quaker, railway, screw, Simon O'Regan, steamer, Ulster Canal, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland, William Dargan

Be very afraid ….

Posted on Tuesday 19 February 2013 | 2 comments

Just in from Waterways Ireland.

Waterways Ireland to Begin Enforcement of Mooring Bye-laws on Grand & Royal Canal and Barrow Navigation

Waterways Ireland will begin enforcement of the mooring Bye-Laws on the Barrow Navigation, Grand Canal and Royal Canal on the 19^th March 2013. A Marine Notice will be issued on the 19^th March to this effect.

The enforcement process will begin with non-permitted, sunken and abandoned boats already on the system. The first step in the process is notification. Continued non-compliance with the Bye-laws may result in the craft being removed from the navigation and stored at the owners cost.

A one year permit for passage and 5 day mooring costs €126. A year-long mooring permit for a single location costs €152. For boats already on the canal system, both permits must be applied for in advance of the 19th March 2013 and be on display on the boat by the 31^st March 2013.

New boats visiting the Grand Canal, Royal Canal or Barrow Navigation for longer than 1 month may apply for the CMP in advance of arrival on the system and must apply for the Extended Mooring Permit as soon as they plan to remain for longer than five days in a single location.

The application process is simple using a form that can be downloaded from www.waterwaysireland.org or sent out by post from Waterways Ireland Tullamore (Tel no 057 9352300).

Waterways Ireland has extended the number of Authorised Officers, who under the Bye-laws have the authority to undertake enforcement.

More information is available from Shane Anderson, Assistant Inspector of Navigation: Tel no +353 (0)87 286 5726, Email shane.anderson@waterwaysireland.org .

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Sources, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged authorised officer, Barrow, boats, canal, CMP, EMP, enforcement, Grand Canal, Ireland, Operations, permit, Royal Canal, Shane Anderson, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland

Grand Canal Dock improvements

Posted on Tuesday 19 February 2013 | Leave a comment

L & M Keating at work here.

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Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Restoration and rebuilding, Sources, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged boats, canal, Dublin, Grand Canal, Ireland, L & M Keating, Operations, quay, vessels, water level, waterways, Waterways Ireland, workboat

Clones

Posted on Tuesday 19 February 2013 | Leave a comment

From the Clones Regeneration Partnership Ltd website:

PROJECT OFFICER » Unfortunately the Clones Regeneration Partnership Canal Officer post has come to an end ….

Though I disagreed with the case put forward by Gerry Darby, I am sorry to hear of his departure. My main criticisms of the Clones Sheugh proposal are directed at the Irish government.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged canal, Clones, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Erne, Gerry Darby, Ireland, Lough Neagh, Operations, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland

Be afraid …

Posted on Tuesday 19 February 2013 | 3 comments

The Irish Times reports that the High Court has permitted Fingal [North Dublin] County Council to scrap the former wooden minesweeper Portisham on which Mr Shane Kennedy lives in Balbriggan Harbour, which is run by the council. It maintained that the boat suffered from “rotting timbers, water being taken on, lack of electrical and radio services, lack of working sanitation and generally unsafe conditions aboard”. The court permitted the council to have the boat towed to Howth to be broken up; it awarded costs against Mr Kennedy, who says that he intends to appeal.

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Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon

Tagged Balbriggan, boats, Fingal, Ireland, K Line, O'Brien Kennedy, Portisham, Shannon, St Brigid

The corncrake and the decline of religion

Posted on Monday 18 February 2013 | Leave a comment

On 13 February 2013 the Irish Times reported that a farmers’ representative had told politicians that

Farmers in the Shannon callows are facing extinction along with the corncrake and wading birds […].

He wanted taxpayers’ money to be spent on stopping the river flooding its flood plain.

Back in the days when people believed in gods, they would have known what a flood meant: it was a message from a deity, telling them to stop whatever they were doing. On the Shannon, either people have stopped believing in gods or they are having some difficulty in interpreting the message, despite its having been delivered over and over again for hundreds of years. If it were interpreted properly, or even if landowners had a modicum of common sense, they would realise that they should either cease trying to earn a living along the banks of a river that floods regularly or adapt their expectations or their activities to take account of the floods (one thinks of rice paddies …).

In the years 2009–2011 net subsidies to agriculture in the Midland region were 114.4% of the operating surplus. For the Border, Midland and Western region as a whole, the figure was 110.4%. In other words, agriculture in those regions is, on balance, a form of outdoor therapy for landowners: it is not an economic activity, and there is no point in taxpayers’ spending any more money on it.

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Posted in Ashore, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Natural heritage, Operations, People, Politics, Scenery, Shannon, Sources, The cattle trade, waterways, Waterways management, Weather

Tagged agriculture, farming, floods, Shannon, waterways, Waterways Ireland

Simon O’Regan -v- John Inshaw

Posted on Monday 18 February 2013 | Leave a comment

Did Simon O’Regan attempt to preempt John Inshaw? Here is a page about O’Regan’s single-screw passenger steamer, demonstrated at Portobello on the Grand Canal in Dublin in 1850.

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Posted in Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Politics, Rail, Sources, Steamers, waterways