Category Archives: Forgotten navigations

It hasn’t gone away, you know …

Posted on Sunday 24 April 2016 | Leave a comment

Yes, the Clones Sheugh, one of Sinn Féin’s favourite inland waterways, hasn’t gone away, although SF is now allowing FF to make the running. From the invaluable KildareStreet.com:

Brendan Smith [FF, Cavan-Monaghan]: To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the stage of the proposal to restore the Ulster Canal; the funding provided in her Department estimates in 2016 for this project; when this project will proceed to the next stage; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

I suppose he could have read the Estimates himself, but maybe that would be too much to ask. Anyway, his constituency colleague [Heather Humphreys, FG, Cavan-Monaghan] replied:

Government approval to restore a 2.5km stretch of the Ulster Canal from the Shannon-Erne Waterway to the International Scout Centre at Castle Saunderson, Co. Cavan, was granted on 24 February 2015. The project, which comprises three work phases, is being undertaken by Waterways Ireland.

Phase 1, the site investigation work, has been completed. Phase 2, dredging of the River Finn, is in progress. I have been informed by Waterways Ireland that completion of this phase has been delayed as a result of contractual issues but that efforts to resolve these matters are ongoing. It is intended that Phase 3 of the restoration work, the construction of a new bridge and canal section, will proceed following completion of phase 2.

Waterways Ireland has an allocation of €2.7m in its 2016 budget for the Ulster Canal project. This is comprised of €1m from my Department’s capital allocation to Waterways Ireland of €2.689m for 2016, with the balance coming from the organisation’s own resources.

We are, it will be recalled, pretending that the River Finn is part of the Ulster Canal, and that Castle Saunderson, that shrine of Ulster Unionism, was on the canal’s route: we don’t want to upset the shinners, so say nothing to them.

Quite why folk are expected to want to visit the scouting establishment now on site I do not know; boating does not seem to be amongst the activities offered.

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Posted in Ashore, Canals, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Forgotten navigations, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Modern matters, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Castle Saunderson, Clones sheugh, River Finn

REWARD — OUTRAGE

Posted on Tuesday 23 February 2016 | Leave a comment

Whereas, on the Evening of Sunday, the 3d inst, several Men entered the Yard of the Royal Canal Company, at the Broadstone, and, with sledges (with which they came prepared), did break Ten Casks of Porter, which had been left there the previous evening, to be forwarded by the Canal.

Now, We, the undersigned, being desirous of bringing to punishment the persons who committed this outrage, and also those parties who, from mercenary motives, are supposed to have instigated them to the act, do hereby offer a Reward of

FIFTY POUNDS

to any person who shall, within Three Months, prosecute to conviction the persons who committed said act, or those who may have instigated them to its commission.

ARTHUR GUINNESS, SONS, & Co
James’s-gate Brewery, Dublin, Sept 8 1837

The Court of Directors of the Royal Canal do hereby offer a further Reward of

FIFTY POUNDS

for the Conviction of the Persons guilty of the foregoing Outrage.

By order, Samuel Draper, Secretary
Royal Canal House, 8th Sept, 1837

Freeman’s Journal 9 September 1837. From the British Newspaper Archive run by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited, in partnership with the British Library.

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Posted in Ashore, Canals, Economic activities, Forgotten navigations, Historical matters, Operations

Tagged Broadstone, criminal, damage, Guinness, outrage, porter, reward, Royal Canal, sledge, vandals

And the prize goes to …

Posted on Friday 15 January 2016 | 1 comment

… Niall Galway, who identified the Cong Canal. bjg

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Forgotten navigations, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Natural heritage, Operations, Unbuilt canals, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Cong Canal, Lough Mask

Blessington Street basin

Posted on Wednesday 13 January 2016 | Leave a comment

Blessington Street Basin (Michael Geraghty 2015)

One of North Dublin’s less-well-known treasures, this is Blessington Street Basin, off the (former) Broadstone Line of the Royal Canal. Thanks to Michael Geraghty for the photo, taken in November 2015.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Forgotten navigations, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Modern matters, Scenery

Tagged basin, Blessington Street, Broadstone, Dublin, Ireland, Royal Canal

Limerick water levels 14 December 2015

Posted on Tuesday 15 December 2015 | Leave a comment

The Abbey River

Abbey Bridge

Baal’s Bridge

Mathew Bridge

Current heading for Mathew Bridge

The Shannon in Limerick

The weir

Plassey

Lots of pumps running and equipment trundling about the place

Trouble at t’mill

T’millstream

Cots on the bank

The Black Bridge getting another hammering

Annacotty

I have been told that the Mulkear River rose very rapidly on Saturday night and that, at one time, it was feared that the (older) bridge would be swept away. I gather that folk working in other areas were called to Annacotty to deal with the emergency.

The old bridge at Annacotty (downstream face)

A tree in the water above the bridge

There’s a weir in there somewhere

The Mill Bar in Annacotty was closed today after being flooded.

The Mill Bar

This, from a small garden beside the bridge, suggests that the Mulkear may have carried and deposited a lot of silt

The Park Canal

I gather that the Mulkear’s waters, added to those of the Shannon itself, raised the level of the Park Canal (the bottom section of the Limerick Navigation). A problem with opening the lock gates, to release the water, meant that a few houses in Corbally were flooded. A Sinn Féin councillor, whose party colleague has been responsible [with her southern counterpart] for slashing Waterways Ireland’s budget in recent years, is quoted as saying

I am in no doubt it was primarily caused by the ineptitude of Waterways Ireland.

Alas, the news story does not tell us the source of the councillor’s certainty.

The article also says that

[…] the force of this water meant it was not possible to open the lock gates by hand.

That is, I think, misleading: neither set of gates has gate beams, so they are not opened by hand.

The upper gates in 2004, shortly after installation. Note the absence of gate beams. Note also the two sluices or paddles on each gate

Control pedestal and gear

The upper gates open today

I see no sign of the paddles or sluices. Perhaps the level is so high that they’re underwater. I must try to check next time I’m at the canal harbour.

Canal lower lock floods 20091128 1_resize

The upper gates in the floods of 2009

In the floods of 2009 the upper gates were held slightly open and all four sluices were discharging water. That would have lowered the level in the canal; it would also, I think, have made it easier to open the gates fully.

I am guessing, but I imagine that on Saturday night some sort of hydraulic machine was brought in this way …

Two bollards have been moved from the gateway and stacked beside it

… and used to push or pull open the near-side upper gate. There seems to be some slight damage to the stone and iron work.

Slight damage

One other possibility that struck me is that silt from the Mulkear might have built up behind the gates, making them difficult to open, but I have no evidence on the matter.

The lower gates

From the outside looking in

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Posted in Built heritage, Canals, Charles Wye Williams, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Modern matters, Operations, Safety, Shannon, waterways, Waterways management, Weather

Tagged 2009, Annacotty, Anney River, Baal's Bridge, Black Bridge, bridge, cot, flood, gate, harbour, hydraulics, lock, Mulcair, Mulkear, Park Canal, Plassey, Shannon, silt, University of Limerick, water level

What’s a cumec, Daddy?

Posted on Saturday 12 December 2015 | 2 comments

I don’t know, but here’s a picture of 415 of them flowing through Castleconnell. [Update 13 December: that may be only 405 cumec.]

415 cumecs on 12 December 2015

Actually, a cumec is one cubic metre of water per second, which is roughly one ton per second, which is a lot of water. And 415 cumec is the amount that, according to the blatts, the ESB is currently letting down the original course of the Shannon from Parteen Villa Weir; the minimum flow in that channel, as seen in summer, is 10 cumec.

Castleconnell 12 December 2015

Younger trees getting their feet wet

Who’d have guessed?

Below the bridge

Above the bridge

Stormont

Pump

Sandbags

Sandbag Central

Sandbags filled here for distribution

Army engineers

More equipment arriving

Clonlara 11 December 2015

Ardnacrusha headrace, said to take 400 cumec

Errina bridge on the Plassey-Errina Canal

The stop planks seem to be quite effective …

PEC Clonlara upstream 20151211 01_resize

… as there is little water getting down the canal to Clonlara bridge

Park Canal 9 December 2015

Depth gauge at Park Lock

Lock chamber

Full canal upstream

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Modern matters, Operations, Roads, Shannon, waterways, Waterways management, Weather

Tagged 2015, Ardnacrusha, bridge, canal, Castleconnell, clonlara, cumec, depth, Errina, ESB, flood, flow, headrace, lock, Park Canal, Parteen, Parteen Villa, Plassey, Shannon, Stormont, weir

They haven’t gone away, you know

Posted on Sunday 8 November 2015 | 1 comment

Yes: it’s the DUP which, according to an Irish Times article which will probably disappear behind a paywall at some stage, has actually agreed with Sinn Féin on something: it wants the Free State to waste €550 million on useless projects:

the A5 road
an eastern bypass of Newry in the wrong place, ie at Narrow Water instead of near Newry and
the dreaded Clones Sheugh.

I can quite see why the DUP might want to bankrupt the Free State [although its assistance may not be necessary], but why do the Shinners share that desire? Do they perhaps wish to discredit the notion of public investment by demonstrating that it does not provide worthwhile returns? Or do they want to show that they are willing to implement Fianna Fáil projects, in preparation for a future Free State coalition overnment?

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Posted in Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Forgotten navigations, Modern matters, Politics, Ulster Canal, waterways

Tagged Clones sheugh, DUP, shinners

Broadstone Luas works

Posted on Thursday 22 October 2015 | Leave a comment

Thanks to Niall Galway for these photos of work under way at the Broadstone for the new LUAS line.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Forgotten navigations, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Modern matters, Rail, waterways

Tagged Broadstone, LUAS, Royal Canal, tram

Placing Percy

Posted on Wednesday 21 October 2015 | Leave a comment

Back in May 2013, I wondered whether 53 Percy Place, Dublin 4, which Waterways Ireland was being forced to sell to dig the Clones Sheugh, would still be on its hands in a year or two. And so it was, but in August 2015, I noted that the property was for sale to fund Saunderson’s Sheugh, which we’re all pretending is the Clones Sheugh (aka the Ulster Canal).

The interesting point was that Messrs CBRE wanted over €1.6 million for the site, which was the valuation put upon it in 2008. The 2012 valuation was €650,000 and the 2013 €800,000. I wrote:

On the basis of its asking price for Percy Place, WI seems to believe that the property collapse is over; perhaps it is even now in negotiation to develop Plot 8 and build a sheugh all the way to Clones. In the meantime, if it gets €1.6 million for Percy Place, that will help to alleviate the damage caused by the smash-and-grab raid carried out by the Department of Fairytales to pay for Saunderson’s Sheugh.

Well, it seems that the boom is back. According to the respectable people’s Sunday newspaper, the Sunday Business Post, of 18 October 2015, WI got over €2 million for the site. The SBP is paywalled and I can’t find online confirmation elsewhere, but it’s a high price.

I did note on the CBRE site that the Twelfth Lock Hotel, that haunt of Stakhanovite homoeroticism on the Royal Canal in Blanchardstown, is for sale again. I haven’t been there for some years, so I don’t know whether the mural is still extant.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Forgotten navigations, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Modern matters, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Sources, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged canal, Clones, Grand Canal, Ireland, Lough Neagh, Percy Place, Saunderson's Sheugh, sheugh, Twelftrh Lock, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland

Tidal passage boats on the Suir

Posted on Tuesday 6 October 2015 | 3 comments

So late as the year 1807 the mail bags between Waterford and Clonmel were carried in a common cart and there was no public mode of conveyance between Carrick-on-Suir and Waterford but passage boats, the chief of which is well remembered as Tom Morrissey’s boat. These dropped from one town to the other as the tide served, fare fourpence a head, distance twelve miles, time occupied seven hours.

George Lewis Smyth Ireland: Historical and Statistical Vol II Whittaker and Co, London 1847, Chapter 14

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Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Sources, Suir, waterways

Tagged Carrick-on-Suir, mails, Morrissey, passage boat, Suir, tide, Waterford

Category Archives: Forgotten navigations

It hasn’t gone away, you know …

REWARD — OUTRAGE

And the prize goes to …

Blessington Street basin

Limerick water levels 14 December 2015

The Abbey River

The Shannon in Limerick

Plassey

Annacotty

The Park Canal

What’s a cumec, Daddy?

Castleconnell 12 December 2015

Clonlara 11 December 2015

Park Canal 9 December 2015

They haven’t gone away, you know

Broadstone Luas works

Placing Percy

Tidal passage boats on the Suir

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