… no more licensed traders in marked fuels [xls] along the Shannon.
Funny how few marinas sell diesel nowadays.
… no more licensed traders in marked fuels [xls] along the Shannon.
Funny how few marinas sell diesel nowadays.
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Shannon, Sources, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged boats, Clare, green diesel, Ireland, Killaloe, Lough Derg, marked fuel trader's licence, Operations, Shannon, Tipperary, vessels, waterways
Dromineer February 2013.
Yes, I know they’re birds, but what class or type or breed or model?
Posted in Extant waterways, Ireland, Natural heritage, waterways, Weather
Tagged bird, Dromineer, Lough Derg, Shannon, Tipperary
I’ve moved my photos of rescue boats to a new page and added photos of some more services. Still a lot missing, though.
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Shannon, shannon estuary, Suir, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged boats, Clare, Coast Guard, Erne, estuary, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, Lough Derg, Lough Neagh, Operations, rescue, RNLI, Shannon, Suir, Tipperary, vessels, Waterford, waterways, workboat
This drawing of a steamer is from an 1831 book called Select Views of Lough Derg and the River Shannon by Paul Gauci. I haven’t seen the book myself, but this illustration is used in a couple of places, including Ruth Delany’s book The Shannon Navigation [The Lilliput Press Ltd, Dublin 2008]. Andrew Bowcock, in his article “Early iron ships on the River Shannon” in The Mariner’s Mirror Vol 92 No 3 August 2006, says of the steamer shown that
The funnel looks to be almost over the paddle shaft, which is artistic license.
But my question is not about the vessel but about the house in the background. If it is drawn without artistic licence, where is it?
It is a very large house, seven bays by three storeys, quite close to the water. Using the Historic 6″ Ordnance Survey map [~1840], I have followed the banks of the Shannon from Shannon Harbour down Lough Derg to Killaloe, then from Limerick down the estuary as far as Tarbert, across the estuary to Doonaha and back up on the Clare side to Limerick, then from Killaloe up the Clare and Galway shores back to Shannon Harbour. Anywhere I found a large house within what seemed the right distance of the shore, I looked it up in the Landed Estates Database and in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, with some supplementary googling.
I haven’t been able to find images of all the houses marked on the OSI map, but I found enough to show that houses of the size shown by Gauci were very rare. Within those few, I ruled out some (like Tervoe) because they didn’t seem to match Gauci’s drawing (although alterations could have accounted for that). I ended up with only one house that looked at all like Gauci’s, but the background may not match.
If you can identify the house, I would be glad if you could leave a Comment below.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Scenery, Shannon, shannon estuary, Sources, Steamers, The cattle trade, Tourism, waterways
Tagged Banagher, boats, canal, Clare, estuary, Fergus, Galway, Gauci, Grand Canal, Ireland, Kerry, Killaloe, Kilrush, Limerick, Lough Derg, Offaly, Operations, Shannon, Shannon Harbour, steamer, Tipperary, vessels, waterways
Learned Readers will be aware that you can moor cheaply for the winter in a Waterways Ireland Shannon harbour; see Marine Notive 111/2012 about half way down this page.
Now, anyone paying commercial rates in a Shannon marina will tell you that WI’s charges represent extremely good value: cheaper even than a year’s canals permit.
But I have noted recently that there seem to be only four boats in Dromineer for the winter). Pottering about today, I found Portumna Castle Harbour deserted.
Terryglass had more boats, but most of them are on the county council’s jetty with only seven on the Waterways Ireland extension.
There were only four boats on the west bank below the bridge in Portumne. There were a few more in Connaught Harbour, but all in all the numbers were lower than I had expected. And I don’t think they’re in Shannon Harbour, which seemed to have fewer boats than usual.
So have boat-owners found that their insurers won’t cover them if they are not in supervised marinas, or out of the water, for the winter? Are private marinas, especially those that can haul boats out of the water, more crowded than usual? Or has the number of boats decreased even more drastically than I had imagined?
I don’t know. Readers’ observations welcome.
Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Shannon, Water sports activities, Waterways management
Tagged boat owner, boats, Clare, Galway, Grand Canal, haul out, insurance, Ireland, Limerick, Lough Derg, marina, Offaly, Operations, Shannon, Tipperary, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland
In Irish Passenger Steamship Services Volume 2: South of Ireland (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1971), D B McNeill writes:
In the autumn of 1964 the Ormonde Hotel at Nenagh took delivery of the Hilda from Holland. She is a modern canal cruising launch with central heating and a transparent roof. She is used for local trips on Lough Derg.
She is described as a single-screw motor vessel with a diesel engine but no further details are given. I would welcome more information about the Hilda; a photo would be very nice.
Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Scenery, Shannon, Sources, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways
Tagged boats, Dromineer, Hilda, Ireland, launch, Lough Derg, Nenagh, Ormond, Shannon, Tipperary, vessels, waterways
This chart shows the numbers of Shannon lock and bridge passages for the first ten months of the year for ten years from 2003 through 2012.
These figures take no account of boats that do not use locks and bridges, eg those that remain on lakes.
The decline continues.
Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Shannon, Tourism, Water sports activities, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged boats, bridge, Clare, Ireland, Killaloe, lock, Lough Derg, Operations, Shannon, Tipperary, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland