The sand trade on Lough Neagh
Paul Whittle has spent much time researching and writing a history of the UK marine aggregate dredging industry. He is now publishing it online in blog format. It includes a chapter on the Lough Neagh sand trade, which is the most comprehensive account I’ve seen and well worth a read.
M Lartigue … M Lartigue … telephone call from Spain for you …. Something about a problem in Saudi Arabia, they said. Apparently there’s a lot of sand in the desert ….
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Modern matters, Rail
Tagged desert, Lartigue, sand, Saudi Arabia, Spain
The Brickey is a small river that flows into Dungarvan Bay. Small boats used its lower, tidal reaches, but in the eighteenth century there was a proposal to link the Brickey to the Finisk, another small river that flows into the Blackwater south of Cappoquin.
Waterford County Museum, and others, believe that work began on that project in the mid nineteenth century and that a driveable track along the south bank of a stretch of the river was built as a towpath.
I have visited the river and looked online for further information; my conclusions (with maps and photographs) are here. However, I would welcome further information.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Natural heritage, Operations, People, Politics, Roads, Scenery, Sources, waterways, Weather
Tagged Admiralty, Blackwater, Brickey, Cappoquin, Dungarvan, Finisk, Ireland, Musgrave, quay, Roberts, sand, towpath, Waterford
On 17 April 2012 the Northern Ireland Assembly held an enlightening debate about Lough Neagh and its future and ended by resolving
That this Assembly calls on the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to convene a working group to explore and pursue actively the potential for a cross-departmental approach to bring Lough Neagh back into public ownership.
The report is here. It is well worth reading by anyone wanting an understanding of the management of the largest lake in These Islands.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Natural heritage, Operations, People, Politics, Scenery, Tourism, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Assembly, DUP, eels, Ireland, Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland, sand, SDLP, Shaftesbury, Sinn Fein, UUP
Here is a very long page showing working boats that are not operated by Waterways Ireland. They include hotel boats, restaurant boats, trip boats, rescue boats, police boats and sand barges.
Posted in Extant waterways, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations
Tagged barge, Barrow, Blackwater, boats, canal, cattle ferry, community barge, Devenish, dredger, DUKW, Enniskillen, Erne, ESB, Garda, Grand Canal, Guinness, hare krishna, hotel boat, Ireland, Ireland waterways rockville, Killaloe, Lagan, Limerick, Lough Neagh, Monasterevan, Nore, Operations, PSNI, rescue, restaurant boat, RNLI, sand, Shannon, Shannon–Erne Waterway, Suir, theatre barge, trip boat, vessels, waterways, workboat
Irish waterways history