Tag Archives: marble mill

Marble from Killaloe

KILLALOE MARBLE WORKS

The marble mill in Killaloe

The marble mill in Killaloe

W & W Manderson

Beg respectfully to inform the Nobility, Gentry, and the Public in general, that they have (from their Practical experience) made considerable and most important improvements in the working and Polishing of Marble at the above Establishment, so that every variety of work is executed in a superior style hitherto unprecedented, and which has enabled them to offer at such Reduced Prices, as greatly to facilitate its general use both in public and private Buildings.

The marble mill at Killaloe (OSI 6" map ~1840)

The marble mill at Killaloe (OSI 6″ map ~1840)

They have for Inspection an Extensive Stock of Irish and Foreign MARBLE CHIMNEY PIECES (of various designs, suited for every description of rooms).

In STATUARY, ELABORATELY, SCULPTURED and CARVED, of exquisite designs and good material.

In VEIN, DOVE, BLACK AND GOLD, ST ANN, BURDILLA, SHANNON SIENNA, IRISH PORPHYRY, FOSSILS, GREY AND BLACK.

MONUMENTS, TABLETS, COLUMNS, BUST PILLARS, WASH AND DRESSING TABLES, TABLE TOPS, BATHS, PAVEMENTS, SLABS FOR DAIRIES, and various other Ornaments.

Also an Extensive Stock of MILL RUBBED, AND SQUARED FLAGS, WINDOW SILLS, BARGE AND EAVE COURSES, TOMB, HEADSTONES, &c &c.

The safe conveyance and fixing of work guaranteed if required.

July 28, 1842

Nenagh Guardian 6 August 1842

My OSI logo and permit number for website

 

Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang

The old Limerick Navigation included a section of canal at Killaloe, with three locks. The uppermost, now disused, is still visible at Killaloe; the middle lock (Moys) is accessible by small boat; the third (Cussaun) is under water in the Flooded Area created by Parteen Villa Weir. The wall that divided the canal from the river downstream of Killaloe bridge forms an island whereon are the former eel-packing station run by the ESB, the former goods store (inhabited by Waterways Ireland) and the former marble mill (now an ESB engineering works). The island hosts the Killaloe market on Sunday mornings.

The curious can (obstructions permitting) walk a little further downstream to where the wall was breached, allowing boats to access the canal below the bridge without having to go as far as Moys Lock.

An obstruction

A section of the canal below the bridge in Killaloe ~1900 (OSI)

The west side of the canal, below the slip, was lined with trees.

The trees

May 2008

May 2008

May 2008

November 2008

November 2008

November 2008, with homemade boat shelter

The trees behind the marble mill: seen from the far side of the river in December 2009

August 2010

A fallen tree blocks the canal in December 2010

April 2011

April 2011

November 2011

November 2011

November 2011

Waterways Ireland Marine Notice 86 of 2011

MARINE NOTICE No. 86 of 2011
Shannon Navigation
Lough Derg
Killaloe Canal

Canal Maintenance – Tree Cutting

Waterways Ireland wishes to advise all masters and owners of vessels that tree cutting will take place along the Killaloe Canal banks from the vicinity of the cathedral downstream to the lower entrance from the river
Shannon, from Monday 19th Sep until about mid Oct.

Access to this section of the canal will be closed during this period. […]

Marine Notice 24/2012 of 16 March 2012 said

Works are still ongoing along the Killaloe Canal banks from the vicinity of the Cathedral downstream to the lower entrance from the river Shannon.

Access to this section of the canal will be closed until further notice.

That notice has not (as of 10 June 2012) been withdrawn so it must be assumed that the works continue.

Cad a dhéanfaimid feasta gan adhmad?

The works photographed on 10 June 2012.

Ephemera 8: Tarbert

Tarbert Island

The Irish Times reports that:

AN BORD Pleanála has approved the application by Endesa Ireland, part of the Spanish energy company, to build a combined-cycle gas turbine power plant on the former ESB station at Tarbert, Co Kerry.

I presume that, when it says that “A submarine cable is to supply Moneypoint.” it means that a submarine pipe will do so: I imagine that the power station at Moneypoint is more likely to want gas than electricity from its rival across the estuary.

Tarbert is now the southern station for the ferries that cross the Shannon Estuary, but it has had a long history as an estuary port. Even before the first of the piers was built, Tarbert Roads provided a sheltered anchorage, and the estuary steamers adopted ingenious methods to get passengers and cargo from shore to steamer and vice versa.

Tarbert was also an important administrative centre and Tarbert Island (as was), which now houses piers and power station, had a Coast Guard station, a lighthouse, a signal mast and the largest of the six forts that guarded the Shannon Estuary. The ESB power station is built on the Ordnance Ground, right on top of the seven-gun battery, as you can see if you play with the Overlay feature on the Historic 6″ Ordnance Survey map.

Moneypoint had a large quarry; it may have been from there that Charles Wye Williams got the “marble” that he polished in the marble mill at Killaloe.

Saleen Pier at Ballylongford is covered here.