THE WATERWAYS OF IRELAND.
“Such was the Boyne, a poor inglorious stream,
That in Hibernian vales obscurely strayed,
And, unobserved, in wild meanders played.”
—_Addison._
If there is one country more than another that ought to be possessed of
ample and complete water communication, that country is surely Ireland.
Surrounded on all sides by the sea, with a population greatly inured to
the conditions of living upon or by the water, it should have at once
the cheapest and the most comprehensive system of water transport in
the world. This, however, is far from being the case. Neither in point
of rivers, nor in point of canals, does Ireland compare favourably with
Scotland, not to speak of the much more abundant resources of England.
The actual waterways that are of real importance besides the Liffey,
are the Earne and Shannon rivers, and the Grand Canal. About these
we shall say as much as may be necessary to indicate their general
characteristics.
It has been said that the unfortunate Earl of Strafford, from having
seen the utility of inland navigation in the Low Countries, first
suggested the improvement of river navigation in Ireland. In 1703
the first Act of Parliament was passed for rendering the Shannon
navigable, and many improvements were projected. Nothing, however,
was effected, although a useless expenditure of 140,000_l._ was made
on the Shannon and Boyne in the year 1758. Various other large sums
were afterwards granted, and frittered away in partial improvements
of the Shannon, Boyne, Barrow, and Newry rivers, besides the Grand,
Royal, Kildare, Naas, and Lough Earne navigations.
THE SHANNON.
The Shannon river forms the most important feature in the inland
navigation of Ireland. For the first 144 miles of this waterway, from
the head of Lough Allen to the sea below Limerick, the Shannon is like
a series of rivers and lakes. Issuing from Lough Allen, it passes
Leitrim, Carrick, Tarmonbury, &c., and then enters, at Lanesborough, a
very irregularly-shaped and extensive sheet of water, called Lough Ree,
about 17 miles in length. Leaving it, the river, now greatly augmented,
passes Athlone, and then winds by Shannon Bridge and Banagher to
Portumna, near which it expands into Lough Derg, another narrow lake,
23 miles long, with deep bays and inlets. From the southern extremity
of this lake it flows on to Limerick. In this extent of navigation
we have first Lough Allen, 10 miles; thence to Lough Ree, 43; Lough
Ree itself, 17; thence to Lough Derg, 36; Lough Derg, 23; thence to
Limerick, 15; making together 144 miles. The mean height of Lough Allen
above the sea at Limerick is about 143½ feet, being on an average about
a foot of declivity per mile. Instead of the natural fall, however, the
water has been reduced by means of locks to a series of level pools.
The estuary or firth of the Shannon extends south-west about 70 miles
beyond Limerick to its mouth, which is finally about 8 miles wide
between Loop Head and Kerry Head, at the Atlantic.
The direction of the Shannon from Lough Allen to Limerick, though
generally south by south-west, is very circuitous, and broken by many
streams, islands, and rocks. The soundings are as various, and both
banks are liable to be overflowed by the river to a great extent;
and the large expanse of the lakes would require a different sort of
vessel from those which navigate the river. The works which have been
constructed to overcome the natural difficulties of the navigation
are either insufficient or in a state of decay; and it seems to be
generally admitted that very little real good can be effected until
the natural obstructions are removed, the number of lakes reduced, and
the channel deepened and improved in various parts; though it is still
doubted if the navigation would even then be suitable for anything but
steam-vessels. The Shannon connects with the Royal Canal at Tarmonbury,
and with the Grand Canal at Shannon harbour, near Banagher. At Shannon
Bridge it receives on the west its principal tributary, the Suck; on
the east, the Inny, the Upper and Lower Brosna, Mulkerna, Maig, Fergus,
&c.
The Shannon river connects the tide water of the Atlantic in Limerick
with Dublin by two canals, the Grand and the Royal. It passes by the
towns of Limerick, Killaloe, Portumna, Banagher, Shannon Bridge,
Athlone, Lanesboro’, Yarmon, Roosky, Drumsna, Carrick, Leitrim, and
Drumshambo.
The expenditure on the river up to 1878 was 800,738_l._ The average
cost of maintenance was 3300_l._, and the total receipts from tolls
during the previous five years was 9510_l._, being an average yearly
receipt of 1902_l._ This sum, deducted from the average expenditure
of 3300_l._, left a net yearly loss of 1398_l._ At this average rate
for the previous thirty years the money loss by the Shannon navigation
amounts to 41,940_l._
The depth of water for this navigation, over 7 feet to 10 feet, is
maintained by eight wholly immovable weir-mounds. These weir-mounds
cause inundations, damaging 24,000 acres of land. This damage during
the last thirty years amounts to more than 100,000_l._ In the section
between Limerick and Athlone, 68 miles, the average receipts of tolls
for the five years ending 1878 was 1274_l._ Out of that sum an engineer
and eighteen lock-keepers had to be paid 686_l._, together with
repairs, which left from 300_l._ to 400_l._ a year profit.
In the section above Athlone, about 80 miles, the average receipt of
tolls in the same five years was 197_l._, against the annual expenses
of repairs and the salaries of an engineer and ten lock-keepers,
amounting to 385_l._
The interests of the Shannon drainage do not, in Mr. Lynam’s view,[58]
require to diminish the minimum depth of water under 5½ feet on the
lock sills. These interests require merely that the surface of the
river and lakes shall be kept within a range of 5½ feet to 8½ feet on
the sills of all locks from Athlone to Limerick. The bye-laws made by
the Board of Works for the Shannon limit the draught of boats to 4 feet
10½ inches. The river and locks are maintained by the weir-mounds at
levels that rarely are less than 7½ feet on the lock sills, and rise in
floods to 9 feet.
The Earne and Shannon rivers have three features which render them,
in Mr. Lynam’s opinion, peculiarly easy to regulate their floods, and
prevent inundations. They have large superficial areas of lakes. Their
channels between the lakes are wide and deep, so capacious as to carry
their floods with an inclination of less than an inch a mile. Their
floods rise slowly, 4 inches to 8 inches in twenty-four hours, very
rarely rising 1 foot in twenty-four hours. On the Shannon, all the
mill-weirs and fish-weirs have been purchased and removed, and all the
shoals have been deepened at a cost of 529,716_l._ The lakes in the
Lough Earne basin have an area of about 50,000 acres. The shoals and
straits, which obstruct the river and cause the inundations, have
an aggregate length of merely 6 miles. Only one mill-weir (which is
the only fish-weir) exists, and it is at the outlet, where there is
a fall of 12 feet. The Shannon basin has lakes of the superficial
area of 87,000 acres. In the length, from the Battle Bridge above
Carrick-on-Shannon to Killaloe Bridge, of 128 miles, the lakes occupy
50½ miles; the broad, deep channel extends for 73½ miles; the confined
portions of the channel occupy merely 4 miles; the portions of the
channel confined so as to be visible obstructions are but 2 miles long.
Neither mill-weir nor fish-weir stands in the way of the current. The
floods scarcely ever rise 1 foot in twenty-four hours. The great floods
are but 4 feet where deepest on the lands, and generally but 2 feet
deep, and merely 18 inches deep over large areas. Many damaging floods
are not more than 6 inches deep on the land.
From Lough Allen to the tide of the Atlantic Ocean at Limerick, a
length of 149 miles by the sinuosities of the river, the Shannon has
been made navigable for steamers with a depth of 6 feet of water. The
river lies naturally in eight separate levels, but the lowest, at
Limerick, is very small, and detached from the others by a length of 5
miles and a fall of 90 feet. The upper level, at the outlet from Lough
Allen, has a fall of 20 feet in 6 miles. The lowest level, between
Castleconnell and Killaloe, contains only 641 acres of lowland, rarely
flooded in summer or autumn, and rarely covered by more than 1½ foot of
water. To preserve the land from summer and autumn floods the surface
of the floods must be lowered 2 feet nearly. A permanently solid
embankment, used during many years for a navigation horse tow-path,
extends along one side of the river, the only openings being four
culverts for side drainage.
On the other side of the river there exists a natural ridge, which is
a little higher than the highest floods. It is not continuous, but
interrupted in five places. These circumstances are held by Mr. Lynam
to “render it very easy to protect the lowlands from all floods.” Very
favourable sites exist for back-drains to carry off rain-water and
springs. The 641 acres of lowlands may be thus protected from summer
and autumn floods at a cost of 6000_l._, being 10_l._ per acre. This
would allow of winter irrigation also, which the occupiers of the lands
particularly require. The system of river embankments is much objected
to as dangerous, and properly so, when it is proposed to make high
embankments. In this case the required embankments are in existence for
seven-eighths of the required length, so permanently solid as to be
absolutely safe, and the small portions to be built need not be more
than 3 feet to 5 feet high. The obstructions are a rock-shoal near the
middle of the length, an old bridge with narrow arches and thick piers,
and a shoal of solid limestone rock at the outlet.
MINOR IRISH RIVERS.
_The Barrow River_ has been rendered navigable from the tideway below
St. Mallins up to where it is joined by the Grand Canal at Athy Bridge,
a distance of 43 miles, falling 172 feet. But from Athy to the mouth of
the Barrow, in the estuary of Waterford Harbour, and through that to
St. George’s Channel, the distance exceeds 60 miles.
_The Blackwater River_, county Cork, is navigable from its mouth at
Youghall up as far as the tide reaches, or at most to Cappoquin.
There is another, and smaller Blackwater, connected with the Tyrone
Canal, and flowing into Lough Neagh.
_The Boyne River_ is navigable from the Bay of Drogheda for 22 miles,
up to Trim, in the last 7 miles of which it ascends from Navan 189 feet
by means of locks, which are from 80 to 100 feet long and 15 feet wide.
_The Corrib River and Lough_, or Lake, form a navigable line,
commencing at the mouth of that river, in Galway Bay, and extending
from Galway town in a north-westerly direction for about 24 miles.
_The Earne River and Lough_, or Lake, are navigable through the lake
from the upper part, where the river enters it, below Belturbet, till
it leaves it again at Enniskillen, where it is obstructed by weirs;
but below the isle on which that town is built the river again expands
into the lower part of the lake, through which it is also navigable.
Thus far the entire distance is about 30 miles, and the navigation is
terminated by a fall, from which the river has a rapid course of 9
miles to Donegal Bay.
It has been proposed to construct a canal from Lough Earne, beginning
near Belturbet, and to follow along the valleys of the Finn and
Blackwater to Lough Neagh.
_The Fergus River_, county Clare, is navigable from its mouth, in the
Shannon, up to Ennis, the county town.
_The Foyle River_ is navigable for 10 miles from its mouth, in the
estuary of Lough Foyle, below Londonderry, up to Strabane.
_The Lagan Navigation_ commences in the tideway at Belfast, and
proceeds mostly by the course of the rivers as far as Lisburn, from
which it is continued by a canal by Hillsborough and Moira to Lough
Neagh. The total length is 28 miles.
_The Lee River_ is navigable in the tideway up to the city of Cork, and
for small craft somewhat farther. Below Cork, however, the navigation
is principally an arm of the sea called Cork Harbour.
_The Liffey River_ is navigable from its mouth in Dublin Bay for about
3 miles up to Carlisle Bridge, at the farther end of the city of
Dublin. From the south side of this navigable part proceeds the Grand
Canal, and from the north side the Royal Canal, of which we shall
presently speak.
_The Limerick Navigation_ commences at that city, and proceeds in a
north-easterly direction, partly in the Shannon and partly by canals,
for 15 miles, to Killaloe, at the south end of Lough Derg.
_The Moig River_, county Limerick, is navigable from its mouth in the
Shannon to near Adare.
_The Moy River_, county Mayo, is navigable for about 5 miles, from
Killala Bay up to Ballina.
_The Neagh Lough_, or Lake, being about 20 miles long and 10 broad,
is generally of sufficient depth to be navigable to a considerable
extent in every direction. It communicates with Belfast by the Lagan
Navigation, with the Tyrone Collieries by the Blackwater, with Antrim
by the Antrim river, and southward with the sea by the Newry Navigation.
_The Newry Navigation_ commences in the tideway of Lough Fathom, 3
miles below Newry, which it passes, and proceeds 16 miles by a canal
to the Upper Bann River, in which it continues to Lough Neagh. The
entire length is about 30 miles, generally in a northerly direction.
This, which has always been a very imperfect navigation, was the first
executed in Ireland.
_The Slane, or Slaney River_, is navigable from its mouth in Wexford
Haven, for 14 miles, to Enniscorthy.
_The Suir, or Sure River_, unites with the Barrow in the estuary called
Waterford Harbour, about 5 miles below the town, and is navigable from
that up to Carrick for sloops, and to Clonmel for barges. At the town
of Waterford the largest ships lie afloat in 40 feet water.
_The Tyrone Colliery Canal_ commences at the south-west extremity of
Lough Neagh, proceeding by a short cut across the isthmus of Maghery to
the Blackwater River, and, following it a short way, passes by another
cut of 3 miles to the Colliery Basin, from which a railway extends to
the mines.
THE GRAND CANAL.
The Grand Canal was begun in 1765 by a body of subscribers; but they
could not have completed the work without very large advances from
Government. The canal commences at Dublin and stretches in a westerly
direction, inclining a little to the south, to the Shannon, with which
it unites near Banagher, a distance of 85 statute miles, and thence
on the west side of the river to Ballinasloe, 4 miles distant. But,
exclusive of the main trunk, there is a branch to Athy, where it joins
the Barrow, a distance of about 27 miles, and there are branches to
Portarlington, Mount Mellich, and some other places. There is also
a westerly branch, more recently constructed, from the Shannon to
Ballinasloe, about 14 miles in length. The total length of the canal,
with its various branches, is about 164 English miles. Its summit
elevation is 230 feet above the level of the sea at Dublin. It is 40
feet wide at the surface, from 24 to 20 feet at the bottom, has 6 feet
depth of water, and cost, in all, about 2,000,000_l._ The tonnage on
this canal for the eight years ending with 1837 varied from 215,000 to
237,000 tons, while the tolls varied from 33,000_l._ to 38,000_l._ The
highest part of the canal rises 298 feet above sea level.
Two errors are said to have been committed in the formation of the
Grand Canal; it was framed on too large a scale for that time, and
it was carried too far north. Had it been 4 or 4½ feet, instead of 6
feet deep, its utility would have been but little impaired, while its
expense would have been very materially diminished.
But the greatest error was in the direction of the canal. Instead
of joining the Shannon about 15 miles above Lough Derg, it should
have joined it below Limerick, and conversely would have avoided the
difficult and dangerous navigation of the upper Shannon. The canal
would then have passed through a comparatively fertile country, and it
would not have been necessary to carry it across the bog of Allen, in
which, says Mr. Wakefield, “the company have buried more money than
would cut a spacious canal from Dublin to Limerick.” The main line of
the Grand Canal is 89 miles long, but there are branches to Naas, Mount
Mellick, Portarlington, and other places. On the main line there are
six locks, each 70 feet by 14½ feet.
THE ROYAL CANAL.
The Royal Canal was undertaken in 1789. It stretches westwards from
Dublin to the Shannon, which it joins near Tormanbury. Its entire
length is about 92 miles, exclusive of a branch of 5 miles, from
Kilashee to Longford; its highest elevation is 307 feet above the
level of the sea. At the bottom it is 24 feet wide, and it has 6 feet
depth of water. It had cost, exclusive of interest on stock, loans,
&c., advanced by Government, in February 1823, 1,421,954_l._ The tolls
produced in 1826 25,148_l._, the expenses of the canal for the same
year being 11,912_l._, leaving only 13,236_l._ net. The canal has paid
dividends over a number of years, although not on a high scale.
This canal seems to have been wrongly planned, for throughout its whole
course it is nearly parallel to, and not very distant from, the Grand
Canal. There are consequently two large canals where there ought not
to be more than one. It is probable that one canal of comparatively
small dimensions would have been quite enough for all the business of
the district, though it were much greater than it is, or is likely to
become.
Besides the above there are some other canals, as well as various river
excavations in Ireland, but hardly one of them yields a reasonable
return for the capital expended upon it. They have almost all been
liberally assisted by grants of public money, and their history, and
that of the two canals now adverted to, has been said to strikingly
corroborate the caustic remark of Arthur Young, that “a history of
public works in Ireland would be a history of jobs.”
FOOTNOTES:
[58] ‘The Engineer,’ Oct. 11, 1878.