More than 25,000 barges were being used on Britain’s inland waterways in the middle decades of the nineteenth century.
Philip S Bagwell The Transport Revolution from 1770 B T Batsford Ltd, London 1974
I wonder what the figure for Ireland was. My guess is that, including small turf boats and cots, it was probably less than one tenth of the British figure.
Posted in Canals, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Historical matters, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Shannon, The cattle trade, The grain trade, The turf trade, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged barges, Britain, canal boats, canals, cots, inland waterways, Ireland, numbers, traffic, turf boats
Seol Sionna under construction
The reproduction 25′ Shannon estuary hooker Seol Sionna will be launched at Querrin, Co Clare, on Saturday 19 May 2012, with celebrations continuing at Carrigaholt (home of the sublime Long Dock pub and eatery) on the following day [h/t dbm].
Canoe at Querrin. The second syllable of “canoe” rhymes with “go”
The pier at Querrin was built by the Shannon Commissioners; one of their marker stones (there are four at Querrin) is shown above.
Whaddya mean, you don’t know where Querrin is?
Remember, if the turf boats had not established the tourist traffic to Kilrush and Kilkee, the Shannon estuary steamers might never have got going and there might never have been a P&O line.
Posted in Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Restoration and rebuilding, Scenery, shannon estuary, Sources, Steamers, The turf trade, Tourism, waterways
Tagged boats, estuary, Ireland, Kilkee, Kilrush, Querrin, Seol Sionna, Shannon, steamers, turf, turf boats, vessels, waterways
Irish waterways history