Tag Archives: Barrow

Mills on the Barrow

Mill sites — Ireland

The Directors of the Barrow Navigation Company will receive Proposals for the several unoccupied Falls on their line of Navigation. These falls are from five to ten feet, with a constant and powerful supply of water; and, from some of the large Establishments now on the line of Navigation, a fair estimate may be formed of their value.

The River Barrow joins the Grand Canal at Athy, 32 miles from Dublin, from whence there is a navigation to Dublin capable of carrying Boats of 50 tons burden, and the River Barrow is navigable from Athy to the Sea-ports of Ross and Waterford, between which places there is a constant and extensive communication for 20 miles of its length.

The River Barrow is not above 10 miles of its length from any part of the extensive Collieries, known by the name of the Kilkenny Collieries, and only three miles from some parts of them, and the country intersected with good Roads. There are several Towns situated on the River adjoining the Falls, `with a superabundant well-disposed Population, only wanting employment. The country is well inhabited, the soil fertile, the climate mild, the River not being frozen over once in ten years.

Any further particulars may be learned by application to the Company’s Acting Secretary, E S Hunt; and Messrs Latouche, Dublin, if by letter, post paid.

Dublin Mercantile Advertiser, and Weekly Price Current 13 June 1825

While you’ve nothing else to do …

I came across a quiz I compiled in 2004 for the Athy Water Festival. Q6 no longer applies and I can’t guarantee that all of the others are still true, but here is it anyway.

  1. What is the taste of the town where a doleful damsel laments her armless boneless chickenless egg?
  2. What armless legless Barrow man did not have to be put out with a bowl to beg but was an enlightened landlord, “a Member of Parliament, Lord Lieutenant of the County Carlow, Member of the Privy Council of Ireland, magistrate, world traveller, yachtsman, sometime dispatch rider in the East India service, crack shot, keen fisherman” and  “a terror with the ladies”?
  3. What are the names of the aqueducts immediately above and below Vicarstown?
  4. What is the only Barrow lock with no corresponding weir?
  5. Where did the now-derelict canal branch from Monasterevan go to?
  6. What beer is named after a Barrow saint? [Carlow Brewing Company used to have a red ale named St Moling’s]
  7. How many bollards are there on each side of Lock 28 on the Barrow Line? [Maybe the number has changed since 2004]
  8. What is the name of the double lock on the Barrow?
  9. “A swan goes by head low with many apologies
    Fantastic light looks through the eyes of bridges
    And look! a barge comes bringing from Athy
    And other far-flung towns mythologies.” Said who?
  10. What two rivers enter the Barrow between Maganey and Bestfield Locks?

Tie-breaker: (a) Who composed “Five Locks on the Barrow”? (b) What are the five locks?

Leave your answers in the Comments below (if you like).

Ballinlaw Ferry: much more info

For many people, the first thing to look out for on a Friday morning is Andrew Doherty’s weekly posting on his Waterford Harbour Tides and Tales blog. Today’s subject is the Ballinlaw ferry on the Barrow: I had a bit of information  here (and a question here) but for the full story read Andrew’s account.

Carrying on the Grand Canal around 1800

Some new items about early carrying on the Grand Canal or by the Grand Canal Company.

The Officer

I see from the blatts that Dickie Fletcher, who set up the Galley cruising restaurant in New Ross, bought a boat called The Officer after the Ross and before the St Ciarán and St Brendan. I had not heard of The Officer before; I would welcome information (leave a Comment below) about its past and (if any) present.

Coolawn

Graving Bank, Waterford

Three River Barges, also the Steam Barge ‘Coolawn’, for sale

To be sold by auction, on Friday, 8th September, 1905, at 12 o’clock, at the Graving Bank, Waterford, by directions of Messrs Robert McAlpine and Sons (owing to the completion of the Waterford and Rosslare Railway), 3 River Barges, also the Steam Barge, ‘Coolawn’. Carrying capacity, 25 to 40 tons.

All are in good working repair, and well found. Terms — Cash.

THOS WALSH & SON, Auctioneers, The Mall, Waterford

Waterford Standard 26 August 1905


City of Waterford // Valuable Steam Barge for sale

To be sold by auction, on Tuesday, 2nd October, 1906, at Twelve o’clock, at the Graving Bank, Waterford. By directions of Messrs Robert McAlpine and Soons, Railway Contractors, the steel steam barge ‘Coolawn’.

To carry from 40 to 45 tons on light draft of water; length about 58 feet, beam 13 feet 6 inches; fitted with Winch, Double Cylinder Engine, Screw Propeller with three blades, Boiler of the locomotive type, by Tangye; Two feed Tanks, to hold about 600 gallons each.

This Sale is well worthy the attention of contractors and others. She is in good working order, and can be inspected day previous to and morning of sale. Terms — Cash.

Thomas Walsh & Son, Auctioneers etc, The Mall, Waterford

Irish Times 29 September 1906

Ferry King

According to the Heritage Boat Association, the steamer Ferry King was built in 1918 by Camper and Nicholson and operated by the Gosport and Portsea Steam Launch Association until 1955. It was then sold to the Solent Boating Company, fitted with a Gardner diesel and renamed Solent Queen. In 1985 it was sold to Waterford owners, renamed Crystal Rose and operated as a cruising bar and disco on the Barrow, Nore and Suir estuaries. Grounded and abandoned some time later, it was bought in 2005  and berthed at Ballinagoth Quay on the River Nore, where restoration work began.

Ferry King in 2009: view from the bow

Ferry King in 2009: view from the stern

Ferry King in 2009: steelwork in progress

Ferry King in 2009: portholes

Ferry King in 2009: stern

Ferry King in 2009: rear deck

On 18 April 2017, Kilkenny County Council published this notice:

Notice of Intention to Remove and Dispose of a Wreck situated at Ballinagoth Quay, Ballinagoth, County Kilkenny0

KILKENNY COUNTY COUNCIL

Section 52 Merchant Shipping (Salvage and Wreck) Act 1993

NOTICE OF INTENTION TO REMOVE AND DISPOSE OF A WRECK

Re:- “The Ferry King”, situated at Ballinagoth Quay, Ballinagoth, County Kilkenny.

WHEREAS: Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the County of Kilkenny (hereinafter called “The Council”)

AND WHEREAS: There is located at Ballinagoth Quay, Ballinagoth, County Kilkenny a vessel known as “The Ferry King” (hereinafter called “the Wreck”) which the Council is of the view constitutes a wreck for the purpose of the Merchant Shipping (Salvage and Wreck) Act 1993 (hereinafter called “the Act”)

AND WHEREAS: The Council is of the opinion that the Wreck constitutes a threat of harm to the marine environment or to related interests (as defined in the Act)

NOW TAKE NOTICE that the Council, after the lapse of thirty days from the date of this Notice, intend to take, do the following:

  1. Take possession of the Wreck and remove the Wreck from Ballinagoth Quay,
  2. Sell or otherwise dispose of the Wreck,
  3. Retain out of the proceeds of sale the expenses incurred by the Council in relation to the removal of the Wreck.

Dated this 18th day of April 2017

Tim Butler
———————————————–
For and on behalf of Kilkenny County Council
County Hall,
John Street,
Kilkenny.

According to the Kilkenny People,

‘The Ferry King’ is in poor condition and has remained at the quay for more than a decade now. Local councillor Michael Doyle has raised the issue on a number of occasions, saying that the vessel had become unsightly, as well as a health and safety problem.

The article linked within that quotation did not mention either Ballinagoth or Ferry King, so it may be about a different vessel.

Update 22 June 2017

I asked Kilkenny County Council whether the vessel was actually removed 30 days after 18 April. I was told that letters have gone out today seeking tenders for its removal, so Ferry King is still there.

Update September 2017

By 8 August (see Ted’s comment below) Ferry King had been cut up and removed and

A steel structure has been placed at the river end of the inlet to prevent any other large vessel occupying the berth in which she lay.

Here are some photos courtesy of John Dimond, who owns the copyright on them [(c) John Dimond 2017].

 

 

 

 

Grand Canal: early plans

This page has a map of the planned route of the Grand Canal from Dublin to the Shannon via the Brosna, with branches to the Barrow and the Boyne, as proposed in 1779.

Note that I know nothing about the site displaying the map and I do not know whether it might endanger your computer’s security in any way. Mine seems to be OK [so far] [touch wood].

Tories on the Barrow and the Shannon

I read here that Olivia O’Leary, who chairs a Save the Barrow Line committee, says that the Barrow Line (trackway or towing-path)

[…] is a natural amenity and should be maintained as it is.

It isn’t. It is an entirely artificial creation, built to enable the use of horses to tow boats. Any geraniums, beetles, butterflies or tweetie-birds using it are interlopers, squatters and trespassers and should be paying rent; at the very least they should take second place to humans.

The Grand Canal Company often complained about the poor quality of the Barrow trackway: the surface was not up to the job. If it is to cater for more users, it may well need to be improved. That is an engineering decision on which I am not competent to pronounce but, as the Barrow is pretty well a dead loss for long-distance cruising by larger boats, it needs to be redesigned for walkers, cyclists and canoeists.

But at least the Barrow NIMBYs are prepared to accept more boats. Dr William O’Connor of the Old River Shannon Research Group writes about the Shannon here, complaining about the small number of “garish canoes” that occasionally travel downstream from Castleconnell to Clareville. Dr O’Connor asks

[…] why has it become a free-for-all for canoeists?

The answer is that there is a right to navigate, as I pointed out here (with an addendum here): I have had no response from the ESB so, while being open to correction, I maintain my position. Anglers may believe that their interests are paramount on that stretch of the Shannon: I disagree. Of course I would be all in favour of discussions between anglers, kayakers, dog-walkers and other users (even environmentalists), but such discussions cannot be based on a presumption that one group has all the rights, or that one activity is of supreme importance, and that the rest are secondary.

For some reason, canoes operated by commercial providers are particularly to be condemned, although it is not clear how salmon and lampreys can distinguish between public-sector, private-sector and voluntary-sector canoes — or whether they would be bothered anyway: Dr William O’Connor says

It is noted that there has been little scientific research on the ecological impact of canoeing.

In other words, there is no reason to believe that there is any basis for the concerns expressed by Dr O’Connor or by various anglers.

More broadly, though, the common factor on the Shannon and the Barrow is that existing users of public facilities are resisting new or expanded uses and seeking to protect their privileges. Irish Toryism is alive and well.

Addendum: this is probably the solution to the salmon problem.

Barrow Passage Boat

Will, from the 1st of October, depart every morning from Athy at eight o’clock, and arrive at Carlow at or before eleven o’clock, and again on each day leave Carlow at two o’clock, and arrive at Athy by five o’clock in the evening. To continue at these hours until further notice – and it is intended very shortly to run a boat to Leighlin bridge.

27th Sept 1799

Saunders’s News-Letter, and Daily Advertiser 23 December 1799

From the British Newspaper Archive run by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited, in partnership with the British Library.

The passage boats were not a success, nor were the hotels at Carlow and Graiguenamanagh, and the last passage boats from Carlow to Athy ceased to operate in 1809.

V T H & D R Delany The Canals of the South of Ireland David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1966