Category Archives: Irish waterways general

Losing weight

Posted on Monday 12 November 2012 | 2 comments

From the Waterways Ireland Signage Design Manual (October 2012) [PDF]:

 

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Posted in Economic activities, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, Waterways management

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Eeyore’s Gloomy Place

Posted on Monday 12 November 2012 | 6 comments

Here is an article, perhaps by Philip Dixon Hardy himself, from his Dublin Penny Journal of 1835. It is about the Bog of Allen, and the turfcutters living thereon, seen from the Grand Canal in 1835.

He visited a turfcutter’s hovel in the bog while stopped at a double lock about twenty miles from Dublin. What lock could that have been?

Note that Kildare is not among the counties mentioned in the article.

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Posted in Ashore, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Natural heritage, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Scenery, Sources, The turf trade, Tourism, waterways

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WI extended mooring permits

Posted on Monday 12 November 2012 | 3 comments

A Waterways Ireland press release has winged its way to my desk. If you want a permit (or licence?) you must provide a copy of your insurance and pay a damage deposit.

The full thing:

Waterways Ireland announced in June 2012 a change in the permit system allowing for year-long mooring permits on the Grand & Royal Canal and Barrow Navigation. The full list of Extended Mooring Locations has been published and is available on www.waterwaysireland.org, in the Canal Bye-Law Enforcement section.

The first four [for certain values of four. bjg] locations where the permits for extended mooring are being opened for application are Shannon Harbour on the Grand Canal, Rathangan and Vicarstown on the Barrow Line and Barrow Navigation, Clondra (East of Richmond Harbour), Confey and the 15th lock on the Royal Canal.

The application process for the Extended Mooring Permit for these locations will open on the 19th November and will remain open for 2 weeks. Boat owners with boats in the four locations with Combined Mooring and Passage Permits will be advised by letter. The Application Form and Guidance Notes for all applicants will be placed on www.waterwaysireland.org. The applicant is required to complete an application form, supply a copy of their insurance, certify that the boat complies with the byelaws and pay the €152 fee and a damage deposit of €250.

Permits will be allocated on a first come first served basis, so to receive a preferred location early applications are advised. Applications will only be accepted from owners already holding a valid annual Combined Mooring and Passage Permit. Boat owners without a Combined Mooring & Passage Permit who wish to apply for an Extended Mooring Permit can do so by ticking the box on the Extended Mooring Application Form and supplying the additional fee.

Applicants will be notified within 28 days of the success of their application.  Successful applicants will be required to sign the Extended Mooring Permit license and will then have a period in which to move to their new mooring. Enforcement of the 5 day rule will begin in this area following the issue of a Marine Notice.

Applications for the next set of Extended Mooring Locations will continue on a rolling basis thereafter with Waterways Ireland intention to open sufficient locations to cover demand on all of the canals by the end of March 2013.

Boats that cruise and move (staying at a mooring for up to 5 days) will not require an Extended Mooring Permit or be in breach of the Bye-laws.

Waterways Ireland will continue to contact permit holders regularly to ensure they are kept up to date with the roll-out of the new permit. All queries about the enforcement of the current bye-laws or the Extended Mooring Permit should be directed to Shane Anderson, Assistant Inspector of Navigation: Tel no +353 (0)87 286 5726, Email shane.anderson@waterwaysireland.org.

These changes are necessary steps to improve the management of the canals and waterway amenities for both the navigational and recreational user, so that investment in the new infrastructure and facilities which Waterways Ireland has undertaken is maximised for every user.

Despite asking them several times, I still don’t understand what WI means by “permit” and “licence”. And now we have a “Permit licence”.

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Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, Politics, Sources, waterways, Waterways management

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Northern Ireland seeks cutting-edge technology … of the 18th century

Posted on Saturday 10 November 2012 | 2 comments

IndustrialHeritageIreland reports on two recent outbreaks of cargo cultism in Norn Iron. Folk in Tyrone want the whole of the Ulster Canal to be restored to its, er, former glory, which presumably means without any water west of Monaghan, while a Sinn Féin MLA wants to lumber Waterways Ireland with responsibility for the useless Strabane Canal on which £1.3 million has already been wasted.

What is it with Sinn Féin and canals? I realise that Irish republicanism is by definition a backward-looking creed, with little contact with reality, but why not look to (say) early nineteenth century technology, like the steam railway, rather than that of the eighteenth century?

Part of the problem, I suspect, is that Sinn Féin folk, especially those who are subjects of Her current Majesty, adopt a British conception of inland waterways. In Britain, canals dominate and boats must travel slowly, no faster than the horse-drawn vessels of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But Irish waterways are dominated by lakes, whereon modern folk like to zoom around in fast boats: jetskis, speedboats and skiboats, fast cruisers. Such boats are entirely unsuitable for canals: they damage the banks and the pace bores their owners.

As it happens, we have lots of lakes where owners can zoom. [I’d prefer if they didn’t, but that’s the way it is.] And with reductions in the amount of boating activity, we don’t need any additional waterways. Sinn Féin, though, doesn’t seem to have grasped this. Stuck in the eighteenth century, it wants canals. I suppose we should be grateful it isn’t proposing to have the taxpayer stump up for coal-mines as well.

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

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Royal Canal traffic in 1844

Posted on Tuesday 6 November 2012 | Leave a comment

Royal Canal traffic in 1844 (Salt)

That table is extracted from Samuel Salt’s Statistics and Calculations essentially necessary to persons connected with railways or canals; containing a variety of information not to be found elsewhere 2nd ed Effingham Wilson and Bradshaw & Blacklock, London 1846, available from Messrs Google here.

The interesting point is how little of the Royal’s traffic travelled the whole way from the Shannon to Dublin or vice versa: only about 5% of the Dublin-bound traffic and less than 3% of the traffic westward.

Another point of interest is that traffic to Dublin was three times the traffic from Dublin.

Amongst the livestock, pigs were the dominant animals: they lost too much condition if they were walked long distances, which was the only alternative to canal transport before the railways came. Even there, I suspect that much of the tonnage described as “from Longford and the Shannon” was actually from west of the river, in Counties Mayo and Roscommon.

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Posted in Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Rail, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, Sources, The cattle trade, waterways

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Portadown Foundry Ltd

Posted on Tuesday 6 November 2012 | Leave a comment

I am grateful for a copy of Portadown Foundry Ltd: a history of the foundry 1844–1983, by Cardwell McClure and Wilson Steen, published by the authors in October 2012. It is available from five shops in the Edenderry (Portadown) area; the Edenderry Cultural and Historical Society may be able to assist.

The book’s breadth of coverage is very impressive. It may be thought of as having three main sections. The first provides five chapters covering the five main eras of control of the foundry. The second has four chapters covering employees, surviving artefacts, sporting history and Foundry Street, where many employees lived. The final section has six chapters providing the essential contest that is often omitted in local history books. These six chapters cover:

  • Portadown and the economy of Ulster
  • Foundry-built barges and lighters (of particular interest on this site)
  • The evolution of flax and linen processing in Ulster
  • The evolution of engineering in Ulster
  • The evolution of power plant in Ulster
  • The evolution of transport in Ulster.

It is richly illustrated throughout and is well worth a fiver (sterling) of anyone’s money.

 

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Politics, Steamers, Waterways management

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The O’Briensbridge [non-]emergency

Posted on Friday 19 October 2012 | Leave a comment

The Irish Times today reports that

The Irish Coast Guard has issued an appeal to sailors and people who might fly aircraft about the safe handling of modern emergency locator equipment.

This follows an incident in which a badly stored aircraft emergency beacon sparked a massive search operation involving two helicopters and ground crews amid fears that a small aircraft had crashed.

Killaloe Coast Guard had covered the search in postings on 17 and 18 October 2012 here. It reported that

Killaloe Coast Guard Unit after over eight hours searching located three active emergency beacons, ELT’s in the O’Brien’s Bridge area.

 

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Posted in Ashore, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Operations, Shannon, Sources

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Ardnacrusha

Posted on Wednesday 10 October 2012 | Leave a comment

Killaloe Coast Guard report here.

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Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Operations, Shannon, waterways

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Another description of the Dublin City Bason

Posted on Thursday 4 October 2012 | Leave a comment

From the Rev G Hansbrow’s 1835 publication An Improved Topographical and Historical Hibernian Gazetteer; describing the various boroughs, baronies, buildings, cities, counties, colleries, castles, churches, curiosities, fisheries, glens, harbours, lakes, mines, mountains, provinces, parishes, rivers, spas, seats, towers, towns, villages, waterfalls, &c &c &c, scientifically arranged, with an appendix of ancient names. To which is added, an introduction to the ancient and modern history of Ireland Richard Moore Tims; William Curry, Jun and Co; John Robertson and Co, Dublin; King and Co, Cork; Marks, Waterford; Simms and Mairs, Belfast; Campbell, Derry; M’Kerin, Limerick; Wheelock, Wexford; Collins, Drogheda; Dunlap, Coleraine; Purcel, Tralee; Kyte, Cashel; Blackham, Newry; Bole, Castlebar; Devir, Westport; and other booksellers:

The City Bason is the pleasantest, most elegant and sequestered place of relaxation the citizens can boast of; the reservoir, which in part supplies the city with water, is mounded and terraced all round, and planted with quickset hedges, limes and elms, having beautiful green walks between, in a situation which commands a most satisfactory prospect of a vast extent of fine country to the south. The entrance is elegant, by a lofty iron gate, and the water that supplies it, is conveyed from the neighbouring mountains.

 

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, People, Sources, waterways

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Theatre steam

Posted on Wednesday 26 September 2012 | 4 comments

The Abbey Theatre has announced that it has bought Nos 15–17 Eden Quay, Dublin 1. No 15 was the address of the main offices of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company.

From the Dublin Almanac of 1845

The company crest is said to be still on the wall. Abbey Street Old seems to run between the two premises; no doubt there will be some means of avoiding any problem.

I wish the Abbey Theatre well in its extension, but I hope it will find some way of honouring the memory of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company and of the underrecognised Charles Wye Williams.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, shannon estuary, Sources, Steamers, The cattle trade, Tourism, waterways

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