Odlum’s Bridge, Kilbeggan Branch of the Grand Canal, 19 February 2011
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I should point out that I am unable to change the speed of transitions on the slide show, which considerably underrepresents the speed of the slashing. Even clicking the forward arrow as fast as possible doesn’t do it justice.
Lock 3 on the Naas Branch of the Grand Canal
Big it up for the Naas Local History Group: it’s holding a canal walk, led by Paddy Behan, on Thursday 19 May 2011. Meet at the Harbour at 7.30 pm.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Extant waterways, Irish waterways general
Tagged canal, Grand Canal, Ireland, local history, Naas, Paddy Behan, waterways
How they got the dredgers past the distillery in 1857. No pics, alas, but it’s worth using the links to the OSI maps.
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, People
Tagged Athassel, Ballinamore and Ballyconnell Canal, barge, Belturbet, boats, bridge, canal, Clones, drainage, dredger, Erne, floods, Gowna, Grand Canal, Ireland, lost, Lough Oughter, Mulvany, Operations, Portlaw, scow. pump, Shannon, Shannon–Erne Waterway, vessels, water level, waterways, weir, workboat
An article in the Irish Times about railway restoration has prompted me to set out my views on waterways restoration. Essentially, I don’t believe public funds should be spent on projects that won’t provide a decent return, but I do favour small-scale conservation, opening up walking and cycling routes along waterways and marketing them to industrial heritage enthusiasts (and others).
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Rail
Tagged Ardnacrusha, artefacts, Athenry, boats, Brendan Quinn, bridge, Burma Road, Bus Eireann, canal, Castleconnell, CIE, Clones, conservation, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Department of Finance, Enda Kenny, Ennis, Erne, ESB, Galway, Grand Canal, greenway, Iarnrod Eireann, industrial heritage, Ireland, Killaloe, lakelands and inland waterways, Limerick, Limerick Navigation, lock, lost, Lough Allen Canal, Lough Derg, Lough Neagh, Montpelier, N18, O'Briensbridge, Operations, Parteen Villa Weir, Plassey, Plassey-Errina Canal, Royal Canal, Shannon, Shannon-Erne Waterway, Ulster Canal, Waterford Limerick & Western Railway, waterways, Waterways Ireland, Western Rail Corridor, Western Railway Corridor
I’ve set up a new page on which I intend to collect pics showing older Irish inland (and estuarial) working boats. I’ve started it off with a copy of the posting (below) about Portobello and a photo of a yawl at Clonmel; this is a page that will have material added as I come across it.
Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations
Tagged barge, boats, bridge, canal, canal boat, Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel, Grand Canal, horse-drawn, Ireland, lighter, Operations, Portobello, Shannon, Suir, vessels, workboat, yawl
Illustrations of early Irish inland waterways vessels are relatively scarce. The drawing below shows the sterns of two of them.
Portobello Harbour 1882
This is from The Graphic of May 13, 1882, and shows the lighting of tar-barrels in Portobello Harbour, on the Grand Canal in Dublin, to celebrate the release from prison of Charles Stewart Parnell and two colleagues.
The layout of the harbour in around 1900 can be seen on the OSI Historic 25″ map. Where were the vessels tied? What are the buildings in the background? What can be said about the vessels? Presumably wooden horse-drawn barges, but they look rather narrow to me. Comments welcome.
The harbour itself is, alas, no more.
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, Sources
Tagged boats, bridge, canal, dry dock, Grand Canal, horse-drawn, Ireland, lock, lost, Operations, Parnell, Portobello, quay, vessels, waterways, wooden barge
The view from Dromod 30 December 2010.
Dromod
The Swiss Army Knife is no longer sprawling across the canal above Noggus Bridge on the Grand: it’s parked in the middle of the canal, closer to the bridge.
Posted in Ashore, Extant waterways, Irish waterways general, Operations, Scenery, Weather
Tagged boats, Boderg, Bofin, bridge, canal, Dromod, Grand Canal, harbour, ice, Ireland, Noggus Bridge, Shannon, Swiss Army knife, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland, workboat
Here‘s a thing.
Posted in Ashore, Extant waterways, Irish waterways general, Operations
Tagged canal, Grand Canal, Ireland, lock, lock 34, Operations, waterways, Waterways Ireland
Two recent stories of people in canals in freezing weather. This one had a happy ending; this one didn’t.
Posted in Ashore, Extant waterways, Irish waterways general, Weather
Tagged Boyne, bridge, canal, drowning, Grand Canal, Inchicore, Ireland, lock, LUAS, Oldbridge, Operations, rescue, waterways
Work in progress on the new moorings above the bridge in Killaloe.
WIP Killaloe 12 December 2010
Below the bridge, the downstream end of the canal has been blocked by a fallen tree. The ESB boats (62M and the tug) have been moved to the dockyard side (I don’t know whether that has anything to do with the blockage) and the path down the side of the marble mill has been blocked by a locked gate. It is climbable, but being burdened I did not attempt it.
Killaloe canal blocked
Posted in Ashore, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, Weather
Tagged 62M, blocked, boats, bridge, canal, Clare, fallen tree, Grand Canal, Ireland, jetties, Killaloe, Lough Derg, moorings, Operations, piling, Shannon, tug, waterways, Waterways Ireland, workboat
Irish waterways history