Tag Archives: Suir

Diesel, gas, turf or battery?

The Irish Times tells us that Endesa, a Spanish company, intends to sell its Irish operations. They include two water-side sites, at Great Island in Co Wexford and Tarbert in Co Kerry, as well as a near miss in Rhode, Co Offaly, and a fourth in Co Mayo.

The Great Island power station on the Suir opposite Cheekpoint

The Irish Times says that Endesa had intended to change Great Island and Tarbert from diesel to natural gas. The Tarbert project received planning permission in December 2010; the Irish Times report was probably inaccurate in suggesting that a submarine cable from Tarbert would supply the ESB generating station at Moneypoint which, being a generating station, would be able to generate its own.

The old Tarbert power station

However, I had heard that Tarbert might have received its natural gas from the proposed storage plant at Ballylongford, near Saleen Pier whence Trinity College turf was sent to Limerick. A pipe from Tarbert might have supplied Moneypoint. I don’t think construction has yet begun.

The old Tarbert power station was built on the site of the Tarbert battery, the largest of the six Shannon estuary batteries and the only one to mount seven guns.

 

Rockville navigator elected to Dáil

Ming Flanagan was the first to be elected a TD in the Roscommon South Leitrim constituency in the 2011 general election.

Ming launching himself on the Rockville Navigations

His sterling qualities were shown when, in September 2010, he kayaked down the Rockville Navigations, with a companion, to check this tourism and recreational resource (which I had brought to his attention in his capacity as Mayor of County Roscommon).

Another person on the side of righteousness is Paudie Coffey of Portlaw, mentioned favourably here; he was first home in Waterford, where he stood for Fine Gael.

Clonmel

Here is a short piece about the Suir in Clonmel and the opportunities for appreciating its natural and built heritage.

A medieval priory and its lessons for Irish waterways history

See The Stones of Athassel here.

Old boats

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.

Suir railway

If George Stephenson, Father of Railways, had had his way, you would have been able to travel from Carrick-on-Suir to Waterford by river – but in a railway carriage. Read about it here.

New section

I have started a new section on People. So far, the top-level page links only to the first entry, which is for Major Rowland Raven-Hart OBE, whose Canoeing in Ireland, published in around 1938, is a short guide to canoeing on several of Ireland’s longer rivers, including the Shannon, the Erne, the Suir, the Barrow and the Munster Blackwater.

I have added such information about Major Raven-Hart as I have been able to find.

 

Up the Suir

I don’t know if you remember, but a few months ago we had sunshine, and it was warm outside. Back then, at the end of May in fact, I went on the Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland‘s tour of Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel and areas in between.

In Carrick, Ralph O’Callaghan showed us some of the sights and addressed the group in the Heritage Centre. Here are some of the things he showed us.

Ralph O'Callaghan shows a model of a yawl (a horse-drawn boat used to carry goods between Carrick and Clonmel)

This yawl is equipped for sand-dredging

Note the large rudder

The yawl

A steel shoe for one of the 30' poles used by Suir and Barrow boatmen

A hand-made net for snap-net fishing

After lunch, I was fortunate to be one of two people who got a trip in Ralph O’Callaghan’s canoe, from Kilsheelan upstream to the Anner bridge just downstream of Sir Thomas’s Bridge, which is itself downstream of Clonmel.

I have set up a small (approx 120-photo) slide show to give an idea of the conditions on the Suir at the time. The water level was low after several dry weeks, but the previous winter’s floods may have left more silt than usual. At any event, a successful passage required Ralph’s skills and his intimate knowledge of the river and its weirs. You can see some of the weirs, and the gorgeous scenery, in the show.

I am very grateful to both Ralph O’Callaghan and Fred Hamond for facilitating the boat trip and for sharing their immense knowledge of the Suir.

If you like interesting boats, you’ll like Ralph’s canoe.

An update on the Suir

I have updated my page about the River Suir above Carrick. I have added photos on some locations above Clonmel (Cahir, Athassel, Golden); I have also added a new section about the infrastructure of the navigation between Carrick and Clonmel. That section has benefited greatly from the information provided by Fred Hamond on the tour he organised for the Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland earlier this year. Several of the photos taken on the tour show warm, sunny weather. They will also, I hope, help to draw attention to the delights of the Suir.

Dry docks

I’m starting a new section on Irish inland waterways dry docks. The thing is, I have photos of very few of them, and even my list of docks is almost certainly incomplete. So this page has photos of a few of the docks, but I’m hoping readers will be able to help with lots more.