Newry Canal

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Newry Canal
Victoria Lock at the entrance to Newry ship canal in Carlingford Lough
Date completed	1741
Date closed	1949, 1970s
Start point	Warrenpoint (originally Newry)
End point	Portadown
Locks	14 (originally 13)
Status	abandoned

[ v t e ] Newry Canal

Legend Lough Neagh M1 Motorway Upper River Bann GN Railway Portadown Bridge River Cusher River Bann 14 Whitecoat Point Lock Knock Bridge, Moyallen 12-13 Terryhoogan Locks Scarva Bridge Poyntzpass Bridge 10-11 Poyntzpass Locks GN Railway 9 Lock GN Railway 7-8 Locks Newry River 4-6 Locks Bridge 3 Lock Bridge Bridge 2 Lock Newry Basin Bridge Site of first sea lock Victoria Lock Newry River Carlingford Lough

The Newry Canal, located in Northern Ireland, was built to link the Tyrone coalfields (via Lough Neagh and the River Bann) to the Irish Sea at Carlingford Lough near Newry.

History

Whether or not the usefulness of a navigable route from the inland lake of Lough Neagh to Carlingford Lough, on the coast to the south of Lough Neagh was considered before the 1640s is unknown, but during Oliver Cromwell's campaign in Ireland at that time, a survey of the area was made, and Colonel Monk ordered that a navigable trench from Portadown to Newry should be cut. Despite the order, no work was carried out, nor was it when Francis Nevil, a tax collector for the government, made a similar survey and proposal in 1703. Shortly afterwards, the Tyrone coalfield was discovered, and there was pressure to provide a route for the coal to reach Dublin. A bill was put before parliament in 1715, for works to improve drainage and the carriage of goods, but failed to become an Act of Parliament, and there was a gradual realisation that a local area such as this could provide neither the capital nor the expertise for such undertakings. In order to address the situation, the Commissioners of Inland Navigation for Ireland were set up in 1729, consisting of three high officials from the government, four bishops, and eighty responsible persons, who would oversee all matters concerned with inland waterways.^[1]

With the hope that a good transport route from the Tyrone coalfields to Dublin could result in the city becoming self-sufficient in coal, rather than having to rely on imports from mainland Britain, which were often intermittent, the canal was approved by the Commissioners.^[2] Work did not begin immediately, as Thomas Burgh was Surveyor General, and he had interests in the collieries at Ballycastle, which would be affected by Tyrone coal becoming more generally available. Burgh died in 1730, to be succeeded by Edward Lovett Pearce, and work began on the canal in 1731. Although Pearce was officially running the scheme, he was busy constructing the new Parliament House at the time, and gave the task to one of his architectural assistants, Richard Cassels.^[3] Cassels had escaped from the religious persecution of the Hugenots in France, and had travelled in Germany, the Low Countries and England, where he had studied navigation works, before arriving in Ireland to work for Pearce.^[2] At the time he was known as Richard Castle, but reverted to his original name as his stature as an architect grew.^[3]

With the death of Pearce in 1733, Cassels became the engineer for the project, which included building the first navigation lock in Ireland. The reasons why he was dismissed from the project are unclear, but he was replaced by Thomas Steers, who employed a local man called William Gilbert to oversee the work, which was completed by 1741.^[4] It was the first summit-level canal to be built in the British Isles^[5] since Roman times, pre-dating the more famous Bridgewater Canal by nearly thirty years.

The canal has 14 locks, nine of them to the south of the summit, which is 29 m (94 ft) above the level of Carlingford Lough. The locks are 13 m (44 ft) long and 5 m (15 ft 6 in) wide and could accommodate boats of up to 120 tonnes. They were 3.6 to 4 m(12 to 13 ft) deep and each lock was faced with stone from the Benburb quarries early in the 1800s after the original brick sides began to crumble.

As the Lower Bann drains Lough Neagh north into the Atlantic Ocean and the Newry Canal (with a bit of the Upper Bann) connects it south to the Irish Sea, the whole system taken as a whole can be conceived speculatively and imaginatively to cut off the old Counties Down and Antrim as an island separate from the rest of Ireland.

With the coming of the railways in the 1850s, the canal went into decline, and finally closed to commercial traffic in the late 1930s. Some sections have steadily fallen into a state of disrepair since then. Although most of the lock gates have long since rotted away, many of the locks themselves are in excellent condition, being constructed from local granite. It is now overgrown for much of its length; however, this means that it is now a haven for wildlife, and with the construction of broad paths is enjoying a renaissance, with many families and individuals using these for walking and cycling. The towpath has been incorporated into the National Cycle Network. The Newry section of the canal remains the most vandalised and unsightly part of the canal. Although several locks have been restored to their original appearance, however local anti-social behaviour and a lack of interest and action from Newry and Mourne District Council, has allowed this section to get worse.

Much has been approved since. There is renewed interset in the towpath. From Newry to Portadown this canal has been opened redone for cyclists and walkers.

The canal towpath is maintained by two wardens throughout the year.

See also

UK Waterways portal

• Canals of Ireland
• Canals of the United Kingdom

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Newry Canal

Bibliography

• Delany, Ruth (2004). Ireland's Inland Waterways. Appletree Press. ISBN 978-0-86281-824-1. 
• McCutcheon, W A (1965). The Canals of the North of Ireland. David and Charles. ISBN 0-7153-4028-X. 
• Skempton, Sir Alec et. al. (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: Vol 1: 1500 to 1830. Thomas Telford. ISBN 0-7277-2939-X. 

References

External links

• BBC Northern Ireland Timeline
• BBC Northern Ireland "Your Place and Mine"
• Newry Branch of the IWAI
• Irish Waterways
• Newry Canal Gallery

Coordinates: 54°06′N 6°18′W / 54.1°N 6.3°W / 54.1; -6.3