Category Archives: Extant waterways

Valerie Anex’s photos of ghost estates, many on the Upper Shannon and the Shannon–Erne Waterway, are worth a look. Flash is required. Some more of them here, where you can see them in high resolution.

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, Politics, Scenery, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged builders, Celtic Tiger, ghost estates, Ireland, Keshcarrigan, Rooskey, Roosky, scenery, Shannon, Shannon–Erne Waterway, Valerie Anex, waterways

The Blocks in the Docks

Posted on Monday 15 August 2011 | 3 comments

Waterways Ireland’s visitor centre in Dublin, known as the Box in the Docks, has been closed for some time. I don’t know whether it has yet been reopened, but it has a new website.

If you are pained by greengrocers’ apostrophes, don’t go there. The main problem, though, is that the website says nothing about what is in the Box. Why “Plan a visit” if you don’t know what you’ll see when you get there?

Perhaps it’s a work in progress, with more to be added later, but I’d welcome information about what’s in the centre from anyone who has visited it recently.

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Operations, Tourism, Waterways management

Tagged box in the docks, Dublin, Grand Canal, Ireland, Waterways Ireland

A new activity

Posted on Monday 8 August 2011 | Leave a comment

Trainspotters have it easy: even if they run out of engines to record, they can fall back on writing down the numbers of carriages.

There is less scope on the waterways, with relatively few working boats. However, Waterways Ireland seems to have a sizeable fleet of land vehicles, so we could record all of them … and, in the process, find out how many land vehicles WI actually operates.

I’ve started here with some pics of vehicles on the Shannon–Erne Waterway, but I’d like your help. If you spot a WI vehicle, photograph it and send the pic to me (reduced to less than 300 KB) with a note of when and where you saw the vehicle and, if possible, information on what it was doing. I’d also like you to give me permission to use the photo on the vehicles web page (but you will still own the copyright).

Just think, we could be just like those interesting chaps who photograph Eddie Stobart trucks ….

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged pickup, truck, van, vehicle, Waterways Ireland

Buried at the crossroads …

Posted on Sunday 7 August 2011 | Leave a comment

… but without a stake through its heart. The Ulster Canal is dead, but it’s spinning in its grave. Its parent department has admitted some of the truth about its funding, but Waterways Ireland will be applying for planning permission for the scheme: there’s enough money for that, but not for digging. Nonetheless, Fine Gael TDs have managed to distract attention from the absence of funding by pointing to the planning application, while Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil have not realised that a scheme’s benefits should outweigh its costs. Return of the Son of the Ghost of the Bride of the Ulster Canal on view here.

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Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Anglo-Celt, assets, budget, canal, Cavan, Clones, Dáil, Deenihan, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Dublin, Erne, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Heather Humphreys, Ireland, lost, Lough Neagh, McGinley, McLellan, minister, Monaghan, Operations, Shannon, Sinn Fein, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland

Waterways users

Posted on Thursday 4 August 2011 | 2 comments

What are waterways halting-sites or harbours used for? After some time spent on the Shannon–Erne Waterway, I can say that they’re not just for cruising boaters. Other users included:

sales reps (or other management types with their suit jackets on hangers in the back) needing cheap, clean loos on their journeys
local owners of jetskis and speedboats, launching for an evening run
anglers, both on shore and in boats
campers
campervanners seeking free, relatively secure overnight stops with good facilities
walkers and cyclists, including some long-distance chaps taking breaks
seekers after water.

At Ballyconnell, a chap drove down in an elderly tractor with three blue barrels on the back, filled up with water and drove away. He was followed by a couple in a 2011 Cavan-registered Renault Fluence, with six 2-litre plastic containers in the boot, who also filled up and drove off. [I have photos of both the tractor and the car.] When water is charged for by the amount used, Waterways Ireland may have to consider locking its taps.

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Ballyconnell, boats, charges, Ireland, Shannon-Erne Waterway, users, water, waterways, Waterways Ireland

Funding the Ulster Canal

Posted on Monday 1 August 2011 | 1 comment

I go away for a week and suddenly there’s lots of information about the funding of the Ulster Canal …. Happily, I was on the Erne, so I was able to read the Anglo-Celt, the Leitrim Observer and the Impartial Reporter, and was thus able to keep up with the news.

The really extraordinary thing, no doubt the result of an amazing coincidence, is that this sudden access of information comes just as I expect a ruling from the Office of the Information Commissioner on my appeal against Craggy Island’s refusal to give me any meaningful information about the funding of the project.

My last letter to Craggy Island on the subject was a request for an internal review of their refusal; as expected, that too resulted in a refusal, which enabled me to go to the Information Commissioner. You might, nonetheless, be interested to read my letter.

I will comment later on the content of the recent relevations and on how they’ve been spun; happily, Ewan Duffy was not deceived by the spin.

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

Tagged bridge, bullshit, canal, Clones, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Erne, FOI, funding, Ireland, lost, Lough Neagh, Operations, spin, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland

Pue’s Occurrences

Posted on Wednesday 20 July 2011 | Leave a comment

I’ve had an article accepted at the history blog. It’s about the capstan at O’Briensbridge on the old Limerick Navigation and the trade it facilitated. There is more information about the technicalities on my own page about O’Briensbridge.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Restoration and rebuilding, Scenery, Sources, Steamers, The cattle trade, The turf trade, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged boats, bridge, capstan, Castleconnell, cattle, Clare, Dublin, ESB, floods, flow, Grand Canal, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, Liverpool, Lough Derg, Montpelier, O'Briensbridge, Operations, quay, Shannon, turf, vessels, water level, waterways

Category Archives: Extant waterways

Forts, weirs, piers, power stations …

Championing waterways heritage

A la recherche …

The drowning of the Celtic Tiger

The Blocks in the Docks

A new activity

Buried at the crossroads …

Waterways users

Funding the Ulster Canal

Pue’s Occurrences

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