THE NEWRY CANAL ULSTERS FORGOTTEN JEWEL
The beautiful Newry canal from Newry to Portadown by canoe. What can I say here only it’s a shame to see such an historic canal go to waste and is badly neglected. This canal was at the top end of engineering in its day being one of the first summit canals in the uk. This canal goes from Carlingford lough (of the Irish Sea)into the river Bann (upper) which in turn goes into lough Neagh (biggest fresh water lough in uk) then you can enter the lower Bann which will lead out into the North Atlantic. It could be a beautiful shortcut through Northern Ireland...bringing work and business to many towns and villages it flows through. A lot of this canal now is un passable unless there has been serious flooding( we waited to a storm and flooding had happened) we hit many miles of totally grew over canal believe it are not parts we even run aground in a canoe. What makes this even more sickening the River Agency had been cleaning stretches of this canal but these where the very places we run aground even with flooding. When you watch the video please look carefully at the banks there is many meters that arnt touched and at some points the canal just the width of a canoe. I think it’s a disgrace that the government agencies do such poor work here and seem to forget that many people want this canal working again. We had so many people so glad to see us coming down the canal battling the weed and mess many of these people hated to see our historic canal going to waste. Many years ago men made this canal with shovels used horses and carts and had this working well...today they have huge diggers which you see and so much more tech and still can’t do a good of job. I think are government agencies,politicians are going backwards in evolution they should be ashamed ...many other canals throughout the uk,Ireland,France and Holland are all working well and booming. Should we be different in Northern Ireland..... you tell me?MORE ABOUT THIS HIDDEN JEWEL
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. It was the first summit level canal to be built in Ireland or Great Britain, [1] and pre-dated the more famous Bridgewater Canal by nearly thirty years and Sankey Canal by fifteen years. It was authorised by the Commissioners of Inland Navigation for Ireland, and was publicly funded. It was opened in 1742, but there were issues with the lock construction, the width of the summit level and the water supply. Below Newry, a ship canal was opened in 1769, and both Newry and the canal flourished.
By 1800, the canal was in a poor condition, and another £57,000 of public money was spent refurbishing it over the following ten years. Closures during the refurbishment resulted in a loss of traffic, which did not fully recover. In 1829, both canals were transferred to a private company, who spent £80,000 on improvements over the next twenty years. The ship canal was enlarged in 1884, to allow ships of 5,000 tons to reach Newry. It reverted to public ownership in 1901, when the Newry Port and Harbour Authority was created. The canal closed in 1936 and most of it was officially abandoned in 1949, with some in 1956. The ship canal closed in 1966 and the Authority was wound up in 1974.
Two sections of the redundant canal were bought by local authorities, for two pounds each, and the middle section was given to another two local authorities. The ship canal has been reopened for use by pleasure craft, and there have been attempts to reopen the Newry Canal, which have not yet been successful. The towpath has become part of a long distance footpath and also part of the National Cycle Network. Some restoration has taken place, and the canal has become a haven for wildlife. Parts of it are also used for coarse fishing.
CHECK OUT THIS INTERACTIVE TOUR BUT REMEMBER SKIPPER JAMES DID IT THE WAY IT SHOULD BE DONE!!!!!
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
So the Video above shows you the Newry Canal in this next video will be showing you how to get to where we finished the Newry Canal Journey at the Point of Whitecoat
This is a different one from me here I show you were my love of water and boats came from. I take you through part of lough Neagh in Northern Ireland up the upper river bann to my home town of portadown. Were we finish of is about as far as you can go in a boat as the river has become a mess a river with such history. This is a quick look at a little bit of my life.........
