Category Archives: Shannon

… but is it Art?

Posted on Monday 10 September 2012 | Leave a comment

A playwright called Helena Enright is seeking recorded reminiscences of the Shannon for a project that is part of the Elemental Arts & Culture Festival in Limerick on Saturday 15 September 2012. More info here.

h/t Stephen Powell

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Posted in People, Shannon, Sources

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The Underpants Gnomes and the Shincliffe Traveller

Posted on Thursday 6 September 2012 | Leave a comment

Here is an article from 1792 about the virtues of the River Shannon. It was written by an unidentified Traveller from Shincliffe, near Durham. It is interesting as an earlyish example of the Irish waterways cargo cult which, it has been pointed out to me, resembles the business plan of the underpants gnomes.

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

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Raising the dead

Posted on Wednesday 5 September 2012 | Leave a comment

North Tipperary LEADER Partnership (lead), Clare Local Development Co. and Galway Rural Development Co. intends to contract an individual or company with relevant experience who will work in conjunction with the Lough Derg Marketing Strategy Group to identify tourism projects that would be eligible for funding under the Rural Development Programme. The aim, through animation and capacity building, is to assist the tourism sector in the three regions with the supports they require to develop Lough Derg as a key destination for water based activities combined with a range of very high quality walking, cycling, heritage and culture and food experience.

More info here; not sure whether you need to register to see it.

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, Politics, Scenery, Shannon, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

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Bring back the Black

Posted on Friday 17 August 2012 | Leave a comment

The Black Bridge at Plassey has been closed since the floods of November 2009. Its reopening seems to have a low priority; I suspect that is because the importance of the bridge in Ireland’s technological, economic, entrepreneurial and political history is not widely appreciated. Here is a page explaining some of the background and suggesting a context within which reopening might be justifiable.

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

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Marl update

Posted on Thursday 16 August 2012 | Leave a comment

I have added more information, from Arthur Young in 1780, to my piece on dredging for marl on Lough Derg. Young provides a few more details on the process.

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Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Shannon, The cattle trade, waterways, Weather

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A very interesting photo …

Posted on Friday 10 August 2012 | 1 comment

… here.

h/t PW

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Posted in Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Scenery, Shannon, Sources, Steamers, The cattle trade, Tourism, waterways

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Plasticine

Posted on Thursday 9 August 2012 | 2 comments

Why, when speaking of the branded product Plasticine, did [do?] Irish teachers insist on using the Irish word marla? Even that word was, according to Terry Dolan’s Dictionary of Hiberno-English [Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 2004; new ed forthcoming], derived from the English marl.

At least in the nineteenth century, marl was a valuable manure or fertiliser and, on Lough Derg, Mr Head of the Derry Estate introduced a system of dredging it from deep water. Read about it here.

 

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Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Scenery, Shannon, Sources, Steamers, The cattle trade, waterways

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Fox II (113B)

Posted on Wednesday 1 August 2012 | 5 comments

Thanks to Liam Kelly for these photos of the retired WI maintenance vessel Fox celebrating her 75th birthday in dry dock at Roosky recently.

 

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Posted in Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, waterways

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Barges, cots and subaltern waterways studies

Posted on Wednesday 1 August 2012 | Leave a comment

I am to speak at Jamestown, near Carrick-on-Shannon in Co Leitrim, on Saturday 4 August 2012. Jamestown is having its heritage festival, and large numbers of old (converted) barges will be there. I will be giving one of four talks; mine is entitled

Down with barges: why cots were the really important vessels on Irish inland waterways.

I will be citing His Late Majesty Henry VIII, Fid Def, in support of my contention.

Here is some of the background to my thinking. If you would like to hear more, do come along on the day: the talks are open to all.

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Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Politics, Shannon, Sources, Suir, The cattle trade, The fishing trade, The turf trade, waterways, Waterways management

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Essential kit for barge-drivers

Posted on Tuesday 31 July 2012 | 2 comments

So there you are outside one of the more sheltered harbours (Dromaan, say), unable to see how much space there is inside and wondering whether, if you go in, you’ll find you have to reverse out again. How useful it would be to be able to see inside from some distance away. How useful it would be to have a small helicopter at your disposal, one that could send pics back to you.

Clearly such a gadget would be a must-have item, an essential piece of equipment for any conscientious barge-driver. Happily, it exists.

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Posted in Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Operations, Shannon, Water sports activities

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