Category Archives: Industrial heritage

Who writes this stuff?

Posted on Monday 26 May 2014 | Leave a comment

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage on the Black Bridge at Plass[e]y and on Baal’s Bridge in Limerick.

It would be nice if the NIAH provided reliable historical information.

Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Scenery, Shannon, Sources, The cattle trade, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Baal's Bridge, barge, Black Bridge, boats, bridge, canal, Clare, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, lost, Lough Derg, Operations, Plassey, Plassy, Shannon, turf, waterways, Waterways Ireland

More bridges

Posted on Saturday 24 May 2014 | 4 comments

Some early pics of the Thames [h/t CELR].

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, People, Sources, waterways

Tagged bridges, docklands, Guardian, Thames

Not the end of the Tralee Ship Canal [updated]

Posted on Tuesday 20 May 2014 | 24 comments

I am grateful to Holger Lorenz of Tralee for alerting me to the removal of one of the gates of the Tralee Ship Canal. Holger’s photos of the lock and gate are here:

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4 Photo 5 Photo 6

According to a Radio Kerry story, the gate had to be removed for maintenance and Tralee Town Council had “no time frame” for replacing it.

It seems to me, from Holger’s photos, that only one gate of the upper pair was removed. If the lower gates were working properly, surely they should be able to keep the canal in water.

It is some years since I visited Tralee. At the time, there was a largeish barge moored on the canal at the bridge. If it hasn’t been moved, I presume that its occupants are now unhappy.

I do not know what Tralee Town Council, or whoever it was, hoped to achieve by restoring the canal (or, for that matter, why whoever it was built the Jeanie Johnston, which was a huge waste of money). But whatever they hoped to achieve, I suspect that the canal failed to meet expectations. I do not know whether there has ever been a formal review of the project but I cannot imagine that it provided a reasonable return on investment.

The best thing to do with it now would be to seal up the seaward end with a fixed wall, forget about opening the bridge, maintain some flow through the canal to keep the water from becoming overly offensive and let the rowers take over the canal.

Addendum February 2015

This story from The Kerryman in November 2014 escaped my notice; it says that the damaged gates were replaced. It also says that the gates “now have a new motorised opening system that replaces the old crank mechanism”, which may reflect some confusion on the Kerryman‘s part as the gates were hydraulically operated.

I still don’t understand why the lower gates, or stop planks, could not have been used to maintain the level in the canal.

Addendum March 2015

Kerry County Council confirms that the lock has been restored and that the canal is fully operational.

Grand Canal bridge problems [updated]

Posted on Sunday 18 May 2014 | Leave a comment

Read about them here.

That’s not the Irish Grand Canal: it’s the one in Venice, the Monasterevan of the south.

There is a list of Santiago Calatrava’s bridges here, but information about his Irish bridges is lacking. Perhaps someone could send info about the James Joyce bridge and the Samuel Beckett bridge to The Full Calatrava.

Another iconic Calatrava achievement is described here [h/t Don Quijones].

Nothing in this post is intended to be insulting or degrading.

PS here’s a piece about another bridge being built in Foreign Parts, using a floating crane that even Bindon Blood Stoney might have been proud of.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, People, Sea, Sources, waterways

Tagged Barrow Line, Bindon Blood Stoney, bridge, Calatrava, Dublin, floating crane, Grand Canal, Ireland, Liffey, Monasterevan, waterways

Yes we can

Posted on Sunday 18 May 2014 | Leave a comment

Folk who travel on English waterways are familiar with the Buckby can, through the handle of which that of the mop must, by law [I gather], be threaded. But soon there will be a new relationship between mops and cans, with the former used to clean up after the latter. Yes: hail the Buckie can, the latest Benedictine blessing to be showered on the land.

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Posted in Canals, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Operations

Tagged Benedictine, Buckby can, Buckfast, Buckie can, Buckminster Fuller, mop

Erne eels

Posted on Saturday 17 May 2014 | Leave a comment

Dr William O’Connor has been checking on eels on the Erne too.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Natural heritage, Operations, People, Sea, Sources, The fishing trade, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged eels, Erne, ESB, waterways

And I’m like wow …

Posted on Friday 16 May 2014 | 1 comment

… as the young folk say nowadays. Searching the National Library catalogue for prints and drawings of the Royal Canal before 1900 brought up the usual suspects but also a very interesting map and this stunning view of Dublin in 1853. Viaducts! Railways! Steamers! Barges being propelled by sweeps!

I couldn’t find the Royal Canal, though.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Operations, Rail, Scenery, Sea, Sources, Steamers, The cattle trade, The turf trade, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged barge, boats, bridge, canal, Dublin, Ireland, Liffey, Operations, quay, Royal Canal, vessels, waterways

Rejoice!

Posted on Friday 9 May 2014 | Leave a comment

Waterways Ireland’s annual report for 2012 has now been published and is available for download here [PDF].

The English-language version begins on page 77 of 144; the earlier pages are devoted to an Irish-language version, that tongue being widely used in Belfast North.

The Ulster Scots Foreword gets in twice, but Dawn Livingstone is described as Chief Executive and not, alas, as Heid Fector. In a blow for parity of esteem, only the Foreword has been translated into the Hamely Tongue. And we continue to find “Waterways Ireland” translated as “Watterweys Airlann” in WI’s logo but as “Watterwyes Airlan” in the text. No wonder the shinners are running rings around the unionists [although I see that David Cameron intends to fix that].

Now I must read the report to see if I can spot why its publication was so long delayed, but we must welcome the success of the peace process that has reconciled the NI Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure with the roI Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

I suppose there’s be no chance of the 2013 report being published soon …?

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Sources, waterways, Waterways management