A visitor to my page on the tidal Barrow is a descendant of ferrymen at Ballinlaw on the Barrow. He would like to find a photograph (or, presumably, other illustration) of the ferry boat and I would welcome more information about the service (eg when it ended).
Ballinlaw ferry (OSI ~1840)
If anyone knows of a possible source of information or illustration, I will pass it on to the enquirer.
Update January 2019: much information about Ballinlaw Ferry from Andrew Doherty here.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Sea, Sources, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Ballinlaw, Barrow, boats, estuary, ferry, Ireland, Operations, tidal Barrow, vessels, waterways, workboat
The ESB is currently letting more water down the old course of the Shannon, from Parteen Villa Weir through O’Briensbridge, Castleconnell and the Falls of Doonass. This channel gets the first 10 cubic metres per second from the Shannon; the next 400 go through Ardnacrusha and anything left over is sent down the old course.
The result is to help to reduce the water level on Lough Derg while raising it on the old course.
The footbridge in Castleconnell at normal summer level in 2002
The footbridge on 1 January 2014
Before Ardnacrusha was built, the old channel took the entire flow of the Shannon, so it can take more than it has now.
The footbridge in the floods of November 2009
The level is still below that of 2009, when the land around the old channel flooded in several places. But much land is waterlogged: I saw yesterday that the upper reaches of the Nore, the Barrow and other rivers were in flood. And more rain is forecast.
Wouldn’t it be nice if some of that could be sent to Dublin instead? I see that some folk claim (on what looks like a website that hasn’t been updated for a while) that the evil Dublin folk want to extract 350 million litres of water from the Shannon every day; the original idea was to take it from Lough Ree but now it seems that Lough Derg is the preferred source.
Now 350 million litres sounds like a lot, but it’s 350 000 cubic metres per day, 14 583.3 per hour, 243.05 per minute, 4.05 per second, which is less than 1% of normal flow through the two channels draining Lough Derg. There’s a lot more at the moment, and the good citizens of Dublin are welcome to come down and fill their buckets. I suspect that Clare TD Michael McNamara has got things out of proportion.
Addendum: 350 million litres per day, over a lake whose area is 130 square kilometres, would lower the level of the lake (if my calculations are correct) by 2.69 millimetres. If no water entered the lake, the level would be down 983 mm after a year, ignoring evaporation and other abstractions and assuming that the Shannon and other tributaries no longer flowed in and that there was no rain.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Natural heritage, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Shannon, shannon estuary, Sources, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged abstraction, Ardnacrusha, boats, canal, Castleconnell, Clare, Dublin, ESB, estuary, floods, flow, Ireland, Killaloe, Lough Derg, O'Briensbridge, Operations, Shannon, water level, waterways
At Leinster Mills, Naas Branch, new year’s eve 2013
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged barge, boats, bridge, canal, Grand Canal, Ireland, Naas Branch, Operations, vessels, water level, waterways, Waterways Ireland
Interesting BBC story about a possible cause for the decline in the number of eels.
Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Natural heritage, Non-waterway, Operations, Sea, Shannon, shannon estuary, Sources, The fishing trade, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged anguilla anguilla, eels, Ireland, Operations, Shannon, waterways
Folk who have boats tied to fixed jetties on Lough Derg might like to check their ropes: the water level has risen quite a bit and some ropes are bar-taut.
Waterways Ireland removed boats from Charlotte Quay in the Grand Canal Dock at Ringsend today.
Being lifted
Getting ready
Pumps on the quay
Ready for the slings
Thanks to Paul Quinn for the information and photos.
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged barge, basin, boats, canal, Charlotte Quay, crane, Dublin, Grand Canal, Grand Canal Dock, Ireland, lift, lock, Operations, Ringsend, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland
It is always pleasing to learn that powerful folk take an interest in the humble pleasures of the proletariat. Thus, back in 2003, many a plebeian heart leapt with joy on learning that Tha Lord Laird o Artigarvan [as we say in Ulster Scots] was asking questions of Her Majesty’s Government in the House of Lords about Waterways Ireland developments on the River Shannon at Limerick, Boyle, Ballinasloe, Ballyleague, Shannonbridge and Scarriff.
Alas, it seems that Tha Lord Laird, who once had the highest expenses in Their Noble Lordships’ House, may not be asking questions in the House of Lords for some time. He resigned the Unionist whip in June; it appears that he may now be suspended from the House of Lords, whose members he esteems. It really take the biscuit.
Irish waterways history 