Tag Archives: turf

Kensal Green

Posted on Monday 28 February 2011 | Leave a comment

The way to Paradise.

Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Non-waterway, People, Scenery, shannon estuary, Steamers

Tagged Ballycorick, Bickerdyke, Clare, estuary, Fergus, five arches, Henn, Ireland, Limerick, Paradise, Shannon, turf, waterways

Diesel, gas, turf or battery?

Posted on Sunday 27 February 2011 | Leave a comment

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.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Irish inland waterways vessels, Non-waterway, Operations, shannon estuary, Steamers, Suir, The turf trade

Tagged Ballylongford, battery, boats, Cheekpoint, ESB, Great Island, Ireland, Kilrush, Limerick, Moneypoint, Operations, quay, Saleen, Shannon, shannon estuary, Suir, Tarbert, turf, vessels, waterways

Rockville navigator elected to Dáil

Posted on Saturday 26 February 2011 | 3 comments

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.

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Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, Scenery, Suir, Water sports activities

Tagged 2011, boats, bridge, canal, Carrick-on-Suir, Clodiagh, Coffey, Dáil, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, election, Ireland, Ireland waterways rockville, lock, lost, Malcolmson, Ming, Operations, Portlaw, quay, Rockville, Roscommon, Shannon, Suir, TD, turf, vessels, water level, Waterford, waterways, weir

Cot

Posted on Thursday 17 February 2011 | Leave a comment

Added an 1879 drawing of a Shannon cot here.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Weather

Tagged boats, cot, floods, Ireland, Shannon, turf, waterways, workboat

From the hearts of cranes

Posted on Wednesday 11 August 2010 | Leave a comment

Several ports on the Shannon Navigation have old cranes (or parts thereof), most of them nicely painted. Their age may not be apparent, but it is possible that they date back to the days of the Shannon Commissioners in the 1840s; at least one of them may be even older than that.

This page shows photographs of those cranes I know of, and discusses their possible ages. But there is much that remains unknown, and readers may be able to cast light on some of the mysteries.

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Irish waterways general, Operations, shannon estuary, Sources, Steamers, The turf trade

Tagged Ballylongford, Banagher, Bath Street Foundry, Board of Public Works, Board of Works, boats, bridge, canal, Carrick-on-Shannon, Clare, Clarke, Connacht Harbour, Connaught Harbour, Courtney & Stephens, Cow Island, foundry, Grand Canal Company, Haughtons Mills, Ireland, John Grantham, Kerry, Kilgarvan, Killaloe, Kirkland, Leitrim, Limerick, Liverpool, lock, Lough Derg, Mather Dixon, Offaly, Operations, Pete Brown, Portumna, quay, Ringsend, Saleen, Scarriff, Shannon, Shannon Commissioners, Shannon Navigation, Shannonbridge, Tipperary, turf, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland, Williamstown

Down the Rockville

Posted on Sunday 1 August 2010 | 2 comments

Some time ago I wrote three pages about the Rockville Navigation, which is linked to Grange on the Carnadoe Waters in Co Roscommon.

I recently revisited the area. I was horrified, first, to find that the bridge — built in June 1765 — has been severely damaged, with large chunks of masonry in the cut beneath and with a crude wooden repair. How many bridges of that age are there in Co Roscommon? How many that are associated with one of the oldest navigations in the country? Please, someone, restore the bridge!

Damage to the bridge

Anyway, the more pleasant part of the day was the four hours that we spend descending, by dinghy and kayak, from the bridge to Grange. The route took us through artificial cuts, small lakes and sections of river, with very clear water and an extraordinary abundance of vegetation. This route would have been easily navigated by large wooden cots or similar boats, and it should be developed today as a canoe-and-small-boat trail. Even with very low water levels, we had no real problems, although someone has to end up with wet feet …. Here is an account of the trip.

Wading in the water

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Posted in Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Irish waterways general, Scenery, The turf trade, Weather

Tagged Bellanagrange, Bellavahan, boats, bridge, canal, Cloonahee, Clooncraff, Derreen, Dooneen, Elphin, flow, Grange, Hillstreet, Ireland, Ireland waterways rockville, Lloyd, lost, Malet, Nablahy, quay, Roscommon, Shannon, Silver Eel, turf, vessels, water level, waterways

Additions

Posted on Tuesday 4 May 2010 | Leave a comment

Material has been added today to the pages on

non-WI workboats
traditional boats and replicas
Waterways Ireland workboats
Irish waterway bogs.

See links to the right.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, Scenery, shannon estuary, The fishing trade, Uncategorized

Tagged Barrow, boats, canal, Cashen, Castleconnell, gandalow, Inishee, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, loo, O'Briensbridge, Operations, Shannon, Spirit of Lough Derg, Suir, turf, waterways, Waterways Ireland, workboat

Three German officers …

Posted on Friday 2 April 2010 | Leave a comment

… didn’t cross the Rine, which is a river in County Clare, flowing into the estuary of the River Fergus which, in turn, joins the estuary of the River Shannon. The Rine is also known as the Quin and the Ardsollus and its downstream end is called Latoon Creek, no doubt because it flows by the townlands of Latoon North (which is to the east) and Latoon South (to the west). There is a quay there, hidden under one of the three road-bridges that cross the Latoon side by side. Sea-manure (seaweed used for fertiliser) was landed there and Samuel Lewis tells us that fifty-ton lighters were used, but more information is needed about their operations.

Read about it here.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, shannon estuary

Tagged Ardsollue, boats, bridge, Clare, Clarecastle, creek, Ennis, Fergus, fertiliser, Hely Dutton, Ireland, Latoon, lighters, lost, M18, N18, pier. three German officers, quay, Quin, Rine, Samuel Lewis, sea-manure, seaweed, Shannon, turf, vessels, water level, waterways

Saleen Pier

Posted on Thursday 25 March 2010 | Leave a comment

It’s a long way from Trinity College, Dublin to the pier at Saleen on Ballylongford Creek, on the south side of the Shannon Estuary. But the college owned large amounts of land in the area, including bogs, and turf was one of the cargoes exported from Ballylongford. There was a battery on Carrig Island at the mouth of the creek and a Coast Guard Station at Saleen Pier, which was built by the Commissioners for the Improvement of the Navigation of the Shannon. Read more about Saleen here.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Irish waterways general, Scenery, shannon estuary, Steamers, The fishing trade, The turf trade, Water sports activities

Tagged Ballylongford, battery, boats, bog, bollard, Carrig Island, Coast Guard, Commissioners, Front Square, goat, Ireland, jetties, Kerry, Kilrush, Limerick, lost, Operations, potatoes, Saleen, Saleen Pier, Shannon, slipway, Tarbert, TCD, tide, Trinity College Dublin, turf, vessels, water level, withy

Nimmo’s non-existent harbour

Posted on Tuesday 16 March 2010 | Leave a comment

Beginning a section about the piers, quays and harbours of the Shannon Estuary, especially those noticed in the mid-nineteenth century. At that time, and while the Shannon Commissioners were at work, the estuary was seen as a part of the river, just as Lough Derg was, although nowadays the Shannon Foynes Port Company controls the estuary and Waterways Ireland (and the ESB) the river upstream from Limerick.

Noel P Wilkins, in his recent biography of the engineer Alexander Nimmo (Irish Academic Press 2009), says that Kilbaha was the only place where Nimmo selected an unsuitable site for a harbour. Within a couple of years it had been abandoned and replaced by a pier.

Kilbaha is the westernmost harbour on the north side of the Shannon Estuary and the closest to Loop Head. It exported turf (peat) and imported sea-manures; it was also a pilot station. A lot of activity for a small place. Read about it here.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Irish waterways general, Scenery, shannon estuary, The fishing trade, The turf trade

Tagged boats, canoe, currach, estuary, fisheries commission, Ireland, kilbaha, loop head, nimmo, pilot, sea-manure, Shannon, shannon estuary, turf

Tag Archives: turf

Kensal Green

Diesel, gas, turf or battery?

Rockville navigator elected to Dáil

Cot

From the hearts of cranes

Down the Rockville

Additions

Three German officers …

Saleen Pier

Nimmo’s non-existent harbour

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