Tag Archives: Ballina

Limerick Navigation

Posted on Monday 20 January 2020 | Leave a comment

Last week’s talk at the Killaloe Ballina Local History Society, on the subject of the Limerick Navigation, was recorded by Scariff Bay Community Radio; a podcast (1 hr 13 min 11 sec) is available here.

Tom Nolan, Grand Canal Company boatman

Posted on Thursday 30 August 2018 | 1 comment

At its August meeting, the Killaloe–Ballina Local History Society presented “a selection of oral history recordings taken over 25 years ago of some of Killaloe’s and Ballina’s most elderly residents”; you can read about the event here.

Most of the recordings were made in 1992. One was an interview with Tom Nolan, formerly of the Grand Canal Company, and you can read a transcription of the interview here.

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Posted in Canals, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Historical matters, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Shannon, waterways

Tagged Ballina, Grand Canal Company, Killaloe

Killaloe in the age of steam

Posted on Saturday 4 November 2017 | Leave a comment

That’s November’s talk at the Killaloe-Ballina historical society; details here and an account of Sandra Lefroy’s talk about the Phoenix here.

Phoenix

Posted on Thursday 19 October 2017 | 1 comment

On Wednesday 25 October 2017, at 7.00pm, Sandra Lefroy will be talking about the Phoenix, the (formerly steam-powered) vessel built in 1872, at the Malcolmson-owned Neptune Iron Works in Waterford, for Francis Spaight of Derry Castle on Lough Derg. The venue is the library in Killaloe, which is on the site of the lockhouse.

History afloat. The life and times of the Phoenix: a unique 1872-vintage heritage boat of Killaloe and Ballina

Now almost unique, the nineteenth-century Phoenix is one of the most historical boats in Ireland. She has been based in Killaloe for much of her life, mostly in the ownership of the Lefroy family. Sandra Lefroy will tell us something of the history of this wonderful craft, and what it is like to live on board a heritage vessel.

Details here.

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Posted in Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Modern matters, People, Shannon, Steamers, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Ballina, Derry Castle, Killaloe, Lefroy, Lough Derg, Phoenix, Shannon, Spaight

The Ballina pontoon

Posted on Monday 4 January 2016 | 3 comments

That’s Ballina, Co Tipperary, on the Shannon, opposite Killaloe.

Looking upstream

The ramp

Looking downstream

From the railway footbridge

Photos taken on 1 January 2016.

The pontoon seems to be more severely affected than it was in the last big floods, on 22 November 2009.

New Ballina pontoon in floods 20091122 1_resize

From across the river

New Ballina pontoon in floods 20091122 2_resize

From the bridge

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Modern matters, Rail, Safety, Shannon, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management, Weather

Tagged Ballina, flood, footbridge, pontoon, railway, Shannon, Tipperary

Canal carrying 1846: the Grand Canal

Posted on Wednesday 24 July 2013 | 1 comment

Isaac Slater’s Directory[i] of 1846 lists those carrying goods on inland waterways. Most of the carriers on the Grand Canal, which runs from Dublin to the River Shannon with various branches, claim to serve a modest number of places, but Thomas Berry & Co have a very lengthy list. So long is their list that it will require two maps to show all the places they served, with a third map for the rest of the carriers.

Note that the maps are from the 25″ Ordnance Survey map of around 1900 rather than the 6″ of around 1840: I used it because it was clearer, but it shows features (eg railway lines) that were not present in 1846.

There may be some cases where I have misidentified a destination; I would be grateful to have my attention drawn to such cases.

Click on a map to get a slightly larger version.

Thomas Berry & Co

Thomas Berry & Co midland and southern destinations (OSI)

The canal runs from Dublin, at the top right, left (roughly west) through Tullamore to Shannon Harbour, where it meets the river; there was an extension to Ballinasloe on the far side of the Shannon. Berrys served places along the canal and several others fairly close to it, but it looks to me as if there were three routes by road beyond that:

via Banagher (which has a bridge across the Shannon) to Eyrecourt and Killimor
from Ballinasloe to Loughrea and district and then south-west to Ennis in Co Clare
perhaps from Tullamore to Birr [Parsonstown], Roscrea (including Shinrone, Cloughjordan and Borrisokane) and Templemore.

There are also two outliers for which I can think of no plausible explanation: Baltinglass and Wexford. Perhaps their inclusion was a mistake. Certainly Berrys, like John M’Cann & Sons on the Royal Canal, seem to have had extensive road networks (perhaps using car-owning subcontractors?) to supplement their water-borne routes, but I don’t see why they would take on a route no part of which could sensibly have been conducted by inland navigation.

The next map shows the north-western destinations served by Berrys.

Thomas Berry & Co north-western destinations (OSI)

You can see that their network covered much of County Roscommon and went almost as far west into County Galway as it was possible to go; it also extended northwards into County Mayo.

I have not attempted to check what industries might have made these towns and villages worth serving. Berrys certainly seemed keen to take as much as possible of the traffic from west of the Shannon towards Dublin — excluding such of it as went by the Royal Canal: it is interesting to compare these maps with that for M’Cann on the Royal.

Finally, note that along the canal itself Berrys listed only destinations towards the western (Shannon Harbour) end: it seems likely that the roads took the valuable traffic from the eastern end into Dublin. There were no doubt turf boats taking fuel in from closer to Dublin, but they were not general carriers.

Other carriers

Now for the rest of the carriers.

Grand Canal carriers 1846 excl Thomas Berry

Grand Canal carriers 1846 excluding Thomas Berry (OSI)

I have included the Shannon here as well as the Grand Canal; however I have covered the Barrow Line of the Grand Canal, as well as the navigable rivers Barrow, Nore and Suir, in a separate post. Of the carriers listed here, only the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company [CoDSPCo] (which employed horses to pull its boats on canals) ventured on to the Barrow Line, serving Portarlington and Mountmellick.

Berrys and the CoDSPCo were by far the largest firms on the Grand. I don’t know the size of the Berrys fleet, but the CoDSPCo had 52 barges in addition to its Shannon (and Irish Sea) steamers. Note that only on the middle Shannon, around the junction with the Grand Canal, and at Ennis did the two firms serve the same destinations: the CoDSPCo seems to have had the lower Shannon trade to itself.

With one exception, all the carriers, including Berrys, had Dublin depots at Grand Canal Harbour, James St; the Grand Canal Docks at Ringsend, joined to the Liffey, were not mentioned.

The exception is Hugh Gallagher, whose only listed destination was Athlone. It would be interesting to know how he served Athlone: whether by road or by water and, in the latter case, whether he used a steamer. I do wonder whether Hugh Gallagher might be the same person as the Hugh Galaghan (also Gallaghan) who served Philipstown [now Daingean], Tullamore and Shannon Harbour.

George Tyrrell is another who is listed with but a single destination, Banagher, whereas James Tyrrell is listed as serving Tickneven, Philipstown, Tullamore — and Edgeworthstown, which must be a mistake as it is closer to the Royal Canal.

Finally, Cornelius Byrne is shown as serving two destinations: Philipstown and Kilbeggan (which has its own branch off the main line of the canal).

Other information

A little extra information is available from the entries for towns other than Dublin in the Directory:

Naas has its own branch from the main line of the canal, but the directory says that “TO DUBLIN, there are Boats, as occasion require, but they have no fixed periods of departure.”
Edenderry also has its own branch, short and lock-free, but there is no mention of its being served by trade boats
Kilbeggan, with a longer, leakier, lock-free branch, was served by the CoDSPCo’s and Thomas Byrne’s boats travelling to Dublin three times a week. Is this Thomas Byrne related to the Cornelius Byrne mentioned above? It seems that Byrne went only eastward for only the CoDSPCo’s boats went westward (to Shannon Harbour, Ballinasloe and Limerick) two or three times a week
at Banagher, Fleetwood Thomas Faulkner of Main Street was the CoDSPCo agent; a downstream steamer left Shannon Harbour after the [passenger] boat from Dublin arrived and called at Banagher’s Bridge Wharf; an upstream steamer from Limerick called every afternoon at 3.00pm and met the night boat travelling to Dublin by the Grand Canal. I presume that this happened on every day except Sunday.

As far as I know, little has been written about the carrying companies, especially those of the nineteenth century. I would be glad to hear from anyone who can correct, supplement or comment on this information.

[i] I Slater’s National Commercial Directory of Ireland: including, in addition to the trades’ lists, alphabetical directories of Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Limerick. To which are added, classified directories of the important English towns of Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds and Bristol; and, in Scotland, those of Glasgow and Paisley. Embellished with a large new map of Ireland, faithfully depicting the lines of railways in operation or in progress, engraved on steel. I Slater, Manchester, 1846

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Posted in Ashore, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Shannon, shannon estuary, Sources, Steamers, The cattle trade, The turf trade, Tourism, Uncategorized, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Ahascragh, Ardrahan, Athenry, Athlone, Aughrim, Ballina, Ballinagore, Ballinamore, Ballinasloe, Ballindine, Ballinrobe, Ballyboy, Ballycumber, Ballygar, Ballynagore, Baltinglass, Banagher, Barrow, Bellmount, Belmont, Birr, Birr Barracks, Borrisokane, Caltragh, Castlebar, Castleblakeney, City of Dublin Steam Packet Company, Clara, Clare, Clifden, Cloghan, Clonaslee, Cloughjordan, Cong, Cornelius Byrne, Corrofin, Craughwell, Daingean, Directory, Dublin, Dunmore, Edenderry, Ennis, Eyrecourt, Ferbane, Frankford, Gallen, Galway, George Tyrrell, Gillen, Glanamadda, Grand Canal, Headford, High Gallagher, Hollymount, Hugh Galaghan, Hugh Gallaghan, Ireland, Isaac Slater, James Tyrrell, Kilbeggan, Kilconnell, Killaloe, Killeigh, Killimore, Kilrush, Kiltulla, Kinnitty, Kinvara, Limerick, Loughrea, Menlough, Moate, Moneyveen, Monivea, Moniveen, Mount Bellew, Mount Talbot, Moylough, Naas, New Inn, New Quay, Newport, Nore, Oranmore, Oughterard, Philipstown, Portumna, Roscrea, Roundstone, Roundtown, Shannon Harbour, Shinrone, Shruel, steamer, Suir, Swineford, Tachmaconnell, Tarbert, templemore, Thomas Berry, Thomas Byrne, Tickneven, Tocmaconnell, Tuam, Tullamore, Westport, Wexford

Canal carrying 1846: the Royal Canal

Posted on Wednesday 24 July 2013 | 11 comments

Isaac Slater’s Directory[i] of 1846 lists those carrying goods on inland waterways. There is a long list for Dublin; entries for other towns list those providing local services [there are some conflicts between the lists: see below]. However, the Dublin list shows only two carriers on the Royal Canal:

the Royal Canal Company [RCC] itself (Samuel Draper, Secretary) at the Broadstone in Dublin
John M’Cann & Sons, Liffey lock, North Wall, where the Royal Canal joins the River Liffey.

I noted here that two published histories of the Royal Canal, and a history of the Midland Great Western Railway [MGWR], suggested that the RCC/MGWR did not commence carrying goods themselves, on their own canal, until the 1870s. However, I had come across an MGWR ad, from 1853, beginning

The Directors will receive Proposals for the Haulage of their Trade Boats to and from Dublin and Longford and the River Shannon […].

The material in Slater’s Directory strengthens the notion that the RCC/MGWR did engage in carrying well before the 1870s, although the nature of the contractual relationships is not clear. Note also that Peter Clarke’s Appendix C[ii] lists “Boat Owners operating on the Royal Canal 1826 to 1847” including four RCC boats as well as four MGWR boats.

Destinations

M’Cann and RCC both provide long lists of the destinations they serve:

RCC: Athlone, Ballinafad, Ballymahon, Balnacarig, Balnalack, Boyle, Boyne aqueduct, Carrick on Shannon, Castlerea, Colooney, Coolnahay, Downs Bridge, Dromod, Drumsna, Ferns, Glasson, Hill of Down, Junction [which may be the junction between the main line and the Longford Branch], Kenagh, Kilcock, Lanesborough, Leixlip, Longford, Maynooth, Moyvalley, Mullingar, Newcastle, Newtownforbes, Rathowen, Roscommon, Ruskey, Rye aqueduct, Sligo, Terlicken, Thomastown, Toome Bridge
M’Cann: Arvagh, Athlone, Ballaghaderin, Ballina, Ballinamore, Ballyfarnon, Ballymahon, Ballymore, Ballymote, Boyle, Carrick on Shannon, Castlerea, Dromod, Drumkerrin [Drumkeeran?], Drumlish, Drumshambo, Drumsna, Dunmore, Edgeworthstown, Elphin, Fenagh, Granard, Lanesborough, Longford, Mohill, Roscommon, Ruskey, Strokestown, Tenelick Mills, Tulsk.

I thought it might be interesting to show these destinations on a map. Note that the map is from the 25″ Ordnance Survey map of around 1900 rather than the 6″ of around 1840: I used it because it was clearer, but it shows features (eg railway lines) that were not present in 1846.

Click on the map to get a slightly larger version.

Royal Canal carriers M’Cann and RCC 1846 (OSI)

I can’t stand over every location marked on the map (as it were). Spellings of place-names were sometimes not those in use today; some place-names (Ballinamore, Ballymore, Newcastle) are used of two or more places that might have been those intended; I could not identify two places, Dunmore and Junction, although I suspect the latter may be the junction between the main line and the Longford Branch of the canal.

What is interesting, though, is the different emphases in the two firms’ marketing. The Royal Canal Company lists almost every location along its canal; M’Cann offers a wide range of destinations beyond the canal, presumably linked by cars on the roads, into Counties Longford, Cavan, Roscommon, Westmeath, Mayo and Sligo. The RCC serves some such destinations, but a smaller number of them.

Some of the locations listed are small places; my presumption — which I have not yet checked, but for which I have found some supporting examples — is that such places have mills, quarries or other industries that provide cargoes for the canal.

The Shannon and the roads

Both operators offer to serve destinations on the River Shannon, to which the Royal Canal is joined at Clondra/Richmond Harbour:

RCC: Athlone, Carrick on Shannon, Dromod, Drumsna, Glasson, Lanesborough, Ruskey
M’Cann: Athlone, Carrick on Shannon, Dromod, Drumshambo, Drumsna, Lanesborough, Ruskey.

It is possible that goods to those places were carried by water, although (if steam tugs were not available) that would have been slow and uncertain; given that there were good roads leading from the west to the Shannon and throughout the region, it is, I think, likely that these destinations were served by road. I have no evidence on the matter save that the directory entries for Carrick-on-Shannon, Drumsna and Jamestown do not mention the availability of water transport.

Some of those destinations were served by direct road services from Dublin:

Athlone, Ballina, Castlerea, Dunmore, Longford, Roscommon, Sligo, Thomastown.

Competition presumably kept charges down.

Other carriers

Slater’s Directory lists six corn merchants in Longford, all with addresses at Market Square. One, John Delany, also had an address in Sligo and presumably exported via that port, carrying by road; the other five all had Dublin as well as Longford addresses.

One was John McCann, whose operations are shown in red on the map; he was the only one listed as a Dublin-based carrier, but three of the other four firms also carried goods regularly towards Dublin: Francis & John Pilsworth’s boats left Longford on Mondays and Thursdays, as did Thomas & Edward Duffy’s boats; Farrelly & Killard’s boats left once a week. Only Nicholas Butler did not offer transport. The Duffy and Pilsworth boats also carried goods in both directions from Mullingar. My guess is that carrying goods from others helped these merchants to cover the costs of their own fleets.

Peter Clarke’s Appendix C suggests that M’Cann’s fleet was the smallest of those based in Longford. The list is of “Boat Owners operating on the Royal Canal 1826 to 1847” but I am not entirely clear what the list shows. It seems unlikely, for instance, that the Midland Great Western Railway owned four boats throughout the period, as the company did not exist for most of it. Is the number of boats the largest that an owner had, or used, in a peak year, or an average over several years?

I don’t, therefore, know how to interpret the list but, assuming that the same methods were applied to all owners, it seems that the fleet sizes were these:

Duffy Bros 12
Pilsworths 9
M’Cann 5
Royal Canal Company 4.

Neither Farrelly nor Killard is listed, but there are many others: Dunne 8, Kelly 6, Murtagh 6, Murphy 5, MGWR 4, Williamson 4, and many others with 1, 2 or 3 boats each. Again, it is not clear in which years those owners had those numbers of boats.

[ii] Peter Clarke The Royal Canal: the complete story ELO Publications, Dublin 1992

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Rail, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, Sources, Steamers, The cattle trade, Uncategorized, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged aqueduct, Arvagh, Athlone, Ballaghaderin, Ballina, Ballinafad, Ballinamore, Ballyfarnon, Ballymahon, Ballymore, Ballymote, Balnacarig, Balnalack, Boyle, Boyne, Broadstone, Carrick-on-Shannon, Castlerea, Colooney, Coolnahay, corn merchant, Downs Bridge, Dromod, Drumkeeran, Drumkerrin, Drumlish, Drumshambo, Drumsna, Dublin, Dunmore, Edgeworthstown, Elphin, Farrelly & Killard, Fenagh, Ferns, Francis & John Pilsworth, Glasson, Granard, Hill of Down, Jamestown, John Delany, John M'Cann & Sons, Junction, Kenagh, Kilcock, Lanesborough, Leixlip, Liffey lock, Longford, Market Square, Maynooth, Mohill, Moyvalley, Mullingar, National Commercial Directory of Ireland, Newcastle, Newtownforbes, Nicholas Butler, North Wall, Peter Clarke, Rathowen, road, Roscommon, Royal Canal, Royal Canal Company, Ruskey, Rye, Samuel Draper, Slater, Sligo, Strokestown, Tenelick Mills, Terlicken, Thomas & Edward Duffy, Thomastown, Toome Bridge, Tulsk

FF -v- SF on C18 economic development

Posted on Friday 31 May 2013 | 4 comments

More from the splendid KildareStreet.com, this time an actual Dáil debate, with real people speaking, on 30 May 2013. The debate was initiated by Micheál Martin [head honcho in FF, Cork South Central], who asked the minister …

… his plans for capital investment in Waterways Ireland in the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

There are three odd aspects to that question.

The first is that Micheál Martin should already know that the capital expenditure allocation for WI within RoI for 2013 is €4 071 000: I can understand that he wouldn’t have wanted to plough through the vast wodges of budgetary bumpf, but I’m sure he would have read the highlights on this site.

The second oddity is that Micheál Martin must have known that the minister would not himself have any plans for capital expenditure: they would be WI’s plans.

The third oddity is that FF didn’t seem to have any particular reason for asking this question: the rest of the debate (see below) seems rather desultory. Could it be that it’s trying to reclaim the waterways limelight from the Shinners, who’ve been keeping an eye on WI dredging as well as on thon sheugh?

To be honest, it all seems a bit pointless: waterways may be interesting to me, and presumably to readers of this site, but they’re hardly of great national importance. A serious debate, by informed participants, might be useful, but (with all due respect to the contributors) there was little sign of that here.

Jimmy Deenihan did actually give some interesting, albeit minor, details about WI’s plans for this year. I omit the first two paras and the last, which are boring boilerplate bumpf that will be familiar to regular readers.

Jimmy Deenihan [FG, Kerry North/West Limerick]: While the Waterways Ireland 2013 business plan and budget is the subject of ongoing discussions with the co-sponsoring Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure in Northern Ireland and will require formal approval by the North-South Ministerial Council, I have provided an indicative funding allocation of €4.071 million to Waterways Ireland for capital projects in this jurisdiction in the coming year. This will facilitate capital works by Waterways Ireland in developing, restoring and improving infrastructure for water based and activity recreation and tourism, consolidating facilitates and improving access to the waterways across the navigations.

I am advised that the Waterways Ireland draft 2013 business plan has a development schedule providing for 1354 m of additional moorings across the navigations. Works planned within this jurisdiction include a range of major projects such as upgrading Bagenalstown Lock on the Barrow; provision of a slipway and stabilisation of the dock walls at Grand Canal Dock, dredging the Grand Canal; development of houseboat facilities at Lowtown and Sallins; lifting the bridge at Tullamore depot; bridge upgrades, works on weirs and locks on the Shannon; and commencement of work on the Belturbet Service Block on the Shannon Erne and purchase of plant and machinery.

I said that I would welcome information about what “lifting the bridge at Tullamore depot” means. The answer was provided in the Comments below; here is a photo of the bridge in question.

The (currently non-lifting) lifting bridge at Tullamore

Most of the rest is unsurprising.

The FF follow-up came from Seán Ó Fearghaíl [FF, Kildare South], who said:

I welcome the many positive developments to which the Minister referred but one of our concerns is that since 2011 the funding available for Waterways Ireland has been cut from €35 million to approximately €32 million.

Studies over the years have shown that waterways tourism is one of the activities that is most likely to generate return visits. As a regular user of places like the Shannon Navigation, one never ceases to be amazed at the number of non-nationals one meets on that waterway who have been coming back to Ireland year in, year out. I wonder to what extent the funding the Minister has available to him should be augmented by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. These waterways are of immense value to the local populations privileged to live in the catchment area of each amenity, along with their huge tourism importance. What sort of interaction does the Minister have with tourism bodies north of the Border and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport? Is anything planned for the waterways under the auspices of The Gathering?

What has happened in Kildare this week? We had Bernard Durkan [FG, Kildare North] the other day and Clare Daly [Socialist Party, Dublin North, but originally from Newbridge, Co Kildare] a moment ago; now we have a new chap from Kildare South.

Anyway, it can’t have come as any surprise to Mr Ó Fearghaíl that WI’s budget has been cut: so has everybody else’s, and the budgets were announced last December. I note that he didn’t ask how the Clones Sheugh was to be funded, never mind the Cavan Sheugh to Lough Oughter. But his question is the sort that a journalist might ask: vague, unfocused, couched in generalities, lacking in evidence of research into the subject. I would like to know more about his “Studies over the years”, with particular reference to the balance between and the allocation of the costs and benefits of investment in waterways; generating return visits is not in itself terribly useful (I really do not want Great Aunt Maud here again).

Not that the minister offered many hard facts in his reply:

I have seen for myself the provision of moorings at Killaloe and Ballina. Those have made a major difference to both towns in different counties on either side of the Shannon. The result of that investment is obvious and local people would accept that.

As regards involvement from Fáilte Ireland, Waterways Ireland is augmenting Fáilte Ireland’s promotion of the waterways. Waterways Ireland is providing funding on an annual basis for the promotion of tourism on its waterways. It is a North-South body, which is also very important, because Tourism Ireland promotes the entire island and the waterways network of more than 1,000 navigable kilometres can really be pushed on an all-island basis and we are doing that. I have tried to minimise the reduction in funding for Waterways Ireland because of its North-South significance and its potential and considerable work has been done. We have improved facilities for tourists so we are now ready to proactively promote this great facility.

Any, like, figures? Statistics? References to analyses? How much of WI’s budget is being diverted to the tourism bods and what is the benefit?

Next (and last) up was Peadar Tóibín [SF, Meath West], with “now for something completely different“:

A number of groups are actively trying to create a green way along the Boyne from the estuary to its source. The Boyne is littered with internationally recognised heritage monuments and would be a fantastic tourist attraction that would bring people into the region. People who holiday in the region visit Trim Castle and Newgrange on coach trips and as ar result Meath does not get the full value of their tourism. The Boyne Canal runs from Navan to Drogheda. It is not covered by the Waterways Ireland network. Would the Minister agree that such a canal should be brought within the ambit of Waterways Ireland, along with other canals, and would he consider the funds that might be available to help with the development of such a green way along the River Boyne?

The minister’s reply is interesting:

We have no plans to extend the present 1,000 kilometres of navigable waterways. The focus of our investment in capital development will be from Clones to Lough Erne to the value of €35 million.

What? No Cavan Sheugh? No Kilbeggan, Longford or Mountmellick Branch?

Oh, and note that the figure of €35 million is being quoted for the Clones Sheugh, although the last estimate I had form WI was higher than that.

The minister continued:

As regards the green way, I do not have direct responsibility but any way I can help through Waterways Ireland, I will do so. As a keen cyclist and walker, I am all for encouraging green ways wherever possible. If the Deputy has a proposal I can forward to Waterways Ireland for discussion, I will gladly take it.

Well, well. A Monaghan greenway is being developed; why not a Clones greenway too, instead of an expensive canal?

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, Sources, Tourism, Ulster Canal, Uncategorized, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Bagenalstown, Ballina, Barrow, Belturbet, boats, Boyne, bridge, budget, canal, Clare, Clones, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, department of culture arts and leisure, Drogheda, Dublin, Erne, Fáilte Ireland, FF, Grand Canal, Grand Canal Dock, Great Aunt Maud, greenway, Ireland, jetties, Jimmy Deenihan, Kilbeggan, Kildare, Killaloe, lock, Longford, Lough Derg, Lough Oughter, Lowtown, Monaghan, Mountmellick, Navan, North South Ministerial Council, Operations, Sallins, SF, Shannon, Shannon Harbour, Shannon-Erne Waterway, Tourism Ireland, Tullamore, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland

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

Tagged Ballina, boats, Clare, Ireland, Killaloe, lawrence, Lough Derg, Operations, Shannon, steamer, vessels, wreck

Issalon kwahi *

Posted on Wednesday 30 May 2012 | 1 comment

Watery news from the Guardian.

That is, of course, the Nenagh Guardian, not that other provincial stalwart the Manchester Guardian.

Four items in the issue of 2 June 2012 caught my eye.

First, the members of the Nenagh Canoe Club have been cleaning up … the Nenagh River, a laudable endeavour.

Second, a community project in Ballina (Killaloe’s oppo) “will see a new jetty with a thirty-year lease built on the site of the old Lakeside Marina”. The paper says that …

[…] Jim Watkins, Eoin Little and Cllr Phyll Bugler of “The Friends of the Lake” have now initiated a project, which will be funded by Leader.

I have no idea what it’s for; I would welcome more information about the project and about the Friends of the Lake, whereof I know nothing.

Third, the Lough Derg Marketing Strategy Group (which god preserve), which is coordinated by the Mid West Regional Authority (who knew?), is holding meetings about signposts. What would be really nice, though, would be if the MWRA took down the pic in its header showing adults and children in an open boat without lifejackets.

Finally, there’s a story about a proposed “fountain auditorium” planned for Birdhill [which was on the old N7, between Nenagh and Limerick, being chiefly famous for winning Tidy Towns competitions and being home to Matt the Threshers pub and eatery]. The “fountain auditorium” was, for reasons that are not entirely clear, to be a temporary operation, running until the end of 2016. It was to be located in a warehouse on the Shannonside Business Park (which is some miles from the Shannon).

The fountain auditorium was to have a pool 20m X 8m and “fountains capable of pumping water 9m into the air through more than 150 rotating nozzles”. The article says that

The proposed development is to serve as a tourist attraction centring on a fountain auditorium, in which audiences would be treated to pre-recorded shows marrying features of water, sound and synchronised lighting. The shows would have a “welcome to Lough Derg” theme, and the centre would provide visitors with information on the likes of walking and cycling routes, accommodation options, and food establishments, together with information on the history of Lough Derg.

It is not clear whether the words “fountain auditorium, in which” mean that the audience would be sitting in the pool or around it. The site was to have a “gift shop and café”. It expected to have 25,000 visitors in 2012 and 40,000 by 2016, after which it would move to permanent purpose-built premises with “a more comprehensive exhibition on Lough Derg”.

Alas! The proposed widening of the R494 road from Birdhill to Ballina, to serve the new bridge over the Shannon, would mean the loss of the space on which visitors’ coaches were to be parked. So, although the project received conditional planning permission on 16 May 2012, the promoters, Glance Promotions Ltd, withdrew their application shortly afterwards. However, that does at least suggest that they were not having any problem in providing the funding, which is good to hear in these difficult times.

* The relevance of the title of this piece will be clear to the many admirers of the oeuvre of the 4th Baron St Oswald.

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Ballina, Birdhill, boats, canoe, fountain auditorium, Killaloe, Lakeside, lifejacket, Limerick, Lough Derg, marina, Matt the Thresher, Nenagh, river, Shannon, signposts, Tipperary, tourism, waterways

Tag Archives: Ballina

Limerick Navigation

Tom Nolan, Grand Canal Company boatman

Killaloe in the age of steam

Phoenix

The Ballina pontoon

Canal carrying 1846: the Grand Canal

Thomas Berry & Co

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Canal carrying 1846: the Royal Canal

Destinations

The Shannon and the roads

Other carriers

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FF -v- SF on C18 economic development

A very interesting photo …

Issalon kwahi *

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