Tag Archives: Shannon

Moving a pump

Posted on Sunday 26 July 2009 | Leave a comment

Some years ago there was a scheme to install a hydroelectric generating plant at Tarmonbarry weir. The scheme was abandoned, and a Waterways Ireland team recently had to get a pump across the river to drain a bunded area. Here is how they moved the pump.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations

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The Shannonbridge chimneys

Posted on Saturday 25 July 2009 | Leave a comment

The chimneys of the power station at Shannonbridge, on the river Shannon between Lough Ree to the north and Lough Derg to the south, have for many years been a landmark: visible from a long way away in both directions on the Shannon and on its tributary the Suck as well. They were demolished last week. I have put up a page of photographs as a reminder of what they looked like and to mark their passing.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Irish waterways general, Scenery, The turf trade

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More wooden boats

Posted on Friday 24 July 2009 | Leave a comment

Thanks to GW, one of the boats on the wooden boats page already photographed has been identified as Scallywag. I’ve also added, at the bottom of the page, fourteen photos of seven new wooden boats. Several of them are unnamed or unidentified, so if you recognise any of them please leave a comment at the bottom of the page.

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Posted in Irish inland waterways vessels

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Operating the sluices at Tarmonbarry

Posted on Thursday 23 July 2009 | Leave a comment

This new page has a series of photographs showing the operation of the sluices on the weir beside Tarmonbarry Lock on the River Shannon. The process involves a mysterious machine and two disappearances ….

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Posted in Extant waterways, Irish waterways general, Operations

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Carrickcraft rescue

Posted on Thursday 23 July 2009 | Leave a comment

We were at Dromod when a Carrickcraft hire cruiser went aground outside the harbour in poor weather. I was impressed by how quickly Carrickcraft got a rescue crew to the scene and how efficiently they got the boat off and into safety before a depression of 988 arrived. Here are photos of the rescue.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations

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The ESB lock at Ardnacrusha on the River Shannon

Posted on Wednesday 22 July 2009 | Leave a comment

The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) operates the lock that takes boats through the hydroelectric power station at Ardnacrusha, on the lower reaches of the River Shannon. The lock is, in Irish waterways terminology, a double: a staircase pair, which counts as one lock, with a combined drop in the two chambers of about 100 feet. It’s not the deepest lock in Europe by any means (although it is by far the deepest in These Islands: five times the depth of Tuel Lane) but it is relatively small, a fact that enhances the impressions created by a passage through the lock. I’ve put up a page of photos and information about the lock here.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Irish waterways general, Operations

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Back from holidays

Posted on Sunday 19 July 2009 | Leave a comment

Just back from a fortnight on the Shannon, reaching as far north as Dromod. We took over 1000 photos, and as soon as I get them sorted I’ll have additions to various existing topics as well as material for several new ones.

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Posted in Irish waterways general

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Updates 25 June 2009

Posted on Thursday 25 June 2009 | Leave a comment

I’ve added photos to some of the boat pages. Several of the new photos were kindly supplied by Tina of Wasserrausch, to whom I am very grateful. The additions are:

– Traditional boats and replicas has a new photo of an Erne cot, supplied by Tina

– Waterways Ireland workboats has photos of the new vessel Inis Cealtra (I’ve already announced these) and two photos of small boats at Munster Harbour. It also has a link to a page of detailed photos of Inis Cealtra

– Non-WI workboats has photos, supplied by Tina, of ferries and workboats on Lough Erne and of two boats operated by environmental authorities

– Sailing boats has photos of the skutsje Nieuwe Zorgen, which arrived on the Irish waterways in 2008

– Wooden boats has several new photos of wooden boats photographed recently at Shannon Harbour, as well as a few better photos of boats that were already listed

– Boats that are different has one addition.

As always, if I’ve got anything wrong, or omitted anything, do please leave a Comment at the bottom of the relevant page.

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Posted in Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations

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Waterways Ireland’s latest workboat: Inis Cealtra

Posted on Monday 22 June 2009 | Leave a comment

Here are photographs of Waterways Ireland’s latest workboat, Inis Cealtra. The photos were taken at Portumna, at the head of Lough Derg, after Inis Cealtra, built in Killybegs Co Donegal, had travelled down the west coast, up the Shannon Estuary, through Limerick and then via Ardnacrusha Lock to Lough Derg on the Shannon.

These photos are of details, and are probably for the anoraks; for more general views, see the pics supplied by Waterways Ireland on my general WI workboats page.

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Posted in Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations

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The sector lock at Kilrush

Posted on Friday 19 June 2009 | Leave a comment

I’ve already written about a Shannon lock at Athlone and a Grand Canal lock at Belmont. Now here’s a page about the sector lock leading into Kilrush marina on the Shannon estuary. Sector locks are relatively rare, but sector gates are being installed as flood defences at Spencer Dock, where the Royal Canal meets the River Liffey in Dublin, and are used at Limehouse lock on the Thames in London.

Interestingly, the Kilrush lock and the associated embankment solved problems that were identified by Commander William Mudge RN, Admiralty surveyor, in 1831: he was one of the three members of the Commission for the Improvement of the Navigation of the Shannon, and at that time the Shannon estuary steamers had to use Cappagh pier, outside Kilrush, because at low tide Kilrush had only a small creek running through it.

Nowadays, inland waterways boats going to sea often head for Kilrush, which is also one of the bases from which dolphin-watching trips are provided. There is a resident school of bottlenose dolphins in the estuary.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Irish waterways general, Operations, Steamers

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