Fr Oliver Kennedy, of the Lough Neagh Fishermen’s Cooperative Society, which ran the eel fishery [PDF], has died at the age of 83.
The ESB eel-catching apparatus at Killaloe Bridge is being renewed (and not, as I feared, removed). Eels are caught now only to be transported around Ardnacrusha. Read about the fishery here and, at greater length, here.
Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Shannon, The fishing trade, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged anguilla anguilla, Ardnacrusha, boats, bridge, canal, Clare, eels, ESB, estuary, Fergus, floods, flow, Fr Oliver Kennedy, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, lock, Lough Neagh, Operations, Shannon, waterways
Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Safety, Shannon, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged Ardnacrusha, canal, Clare, Coast Guard, drowning, ESB, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, lock, Lough Derg, O'Briensbridge, Operations, Shannon, waterways
Ger Reid, the Ardnacrusha lockkeeper, retired at the end of December 2012. Ger has guided many boats through the locks over the years and has always been cheerful and reassuring as well as informative, helpful, reliable and competent. He will be sadly missed but I wish him well in his retirement.
Meanwhile, I have heard that Limerick City Council has decided not to renew Pat Lysaght’s contract for work on the river and has suggested that Waterways Ireland should retain him. Pat’s most important role, though, in assisting boats passing through Limerick (220 in 2012), has always been voluntary. Were Pat to cease to provide that service, I think the number of boats visiting Limerick would be greatly reduced.
Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Natural heritage, Operations, People, Shannon, shannon estuary, Tourism, waterways, Weather
Tagged Ardnacrusha, boats, bridge, canal, Clare, ESB, estuary, Ger Reid, Hunt Museum, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, Limerick City Council, lock, Lough Derg, Operations, Pat Lysaght, pilot, Shannon, vessels, water level, waterways, Waterways Ireland, workboat
I have been following the Irish Times series “A History of Ireland in 100 Objects” with horrified amusement since it started. Most of the series (now almost ended) has followed the standard National Museum model in which Irish history has three strands: The Big House and the folk that did be living in it, or their predecessors who could afford gold stuff; the peasants, who lived in rural parts and engaged in animal husbandry and turnip-snagging; the killers, who liked dressing up. It’s the physical manifestation of the bastard offspring of W B Yeats and George de Valera, a right pair of nutters. As I wrote elsewhere:
The National Museum is not worthy of the name. It is a random collection of collections: a scrapheap of whatever happened to find its way into the taxpayer’s care. It does not present any sort of coherent picture of national life, past or present, and such picture as it does present is of an idealised rural lifestyle that few ever followed. It omits the modern, the industrial, the urban and, in so doing, it distorts the picture of Irish history that is presented both to natives and to visitors.
The Irish Times series has been following the same model. But last week’s issue [which will probably disappear behind a paywall at some stage] finally admitted modernity, industrialisation, light by featuring a washing-machine — and, with it, electricity generation and Ardnacrusha.
And where is the featured washing-machine to be found?
In an agricultural museum.
The Ships Pass at Parteen Villa Weir with work in progress.
Two bits
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Operations, Shannon, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Ardnacrusha, canal, Clare, ESB, flooded area, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, lock, Lough Derg, Operations, Parteen Villa Weir, Shannon, ships pass, waterways, weir
In order to save some money, it might be a good idea to disband Clare County Council. Then we wouldn’t have county councillors proposing idiotic projects (joined in this instance by some TDs) requiring vast capital expenditure (which we can’t afford) to produce zero jobs.
More about Ardnacrusha here.
Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, Sources, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Ardnacrusha, canal, Clare, ESB, flow, hydroelectric, Ireland, Operations, Shannon, waterways
The search term most often used to find this site is Ardnacrusha, which scores 1655, almost twice as many as the next term, the generic Waterways (875). But other variants occur too: Ardnacrusha Lock is at position 3 (768), Ardnacrusha power station 18 (274), ESB Ardnacrusha 21 (225), Ardnacrusha ESB 33 (169), Ard na Crusha 43 (140), Ardnacrusha hydroelectric power station 58 (120), Ardnacrusha dam 86 (89); Parteen Weir is at 14 (369).
Thus I deduce that Ardnacrusha is by far the most popular artefact on Irish inland waterways.
Here is the full top twenty.
1 Ardnacrusha 1,655
2 Waterways 875
3 Ardnacrusha lock 768
4 Wooden boat 728
5 Skies 613
6 Athlone 573
7 Strancally castle 483
8 Lough Erne 480
9 Homemade boat 460
10 Wooden boats 453
11 Irish waterways history 451
12 Boats 448
13 Irish waterways 393
14 Parteen Weir 369
15 Flying Fifteen 344
16 Homemade boats 333
17 Pioner Multi 301
18 Ardnacrusha power station 274
19 Johnstown Co Kilkenny 247
20 Ormond Castle 237
Most hits on this site come from searches rather than links.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Operations, Shannon, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Ardnacrusha, canal, Clare, ESB, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, lock, Operations, Shannon, waterways
The upper chamber at Ardnacrusha lock
Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Operations, Shannon, waterways
Tagged Ardnacrusha, canal, chamber, Clare, ESB, headrace, Ireland, lock, tailrace, waterways
Irish waterways history 