The RTE 100 buildings series features another industrial building – the Padmore and Barnes boot factory in Kilkenny.
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Author: ewan.duffy
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Grand Canal
As advised recently, I have made good progress on the Royal Canal from Leixlip to the Shannon and as such, I have made a start on adding maps for the Grand Canal.
Subject to a couple of caveats (see below), maps for the Naas and Corbally Harbour branch of the Grand Canal are now online. The caveats are:
- Naas Southern Relief Road not shown
- Sallins Bypass not shown
- Grand Canal locks not added.
Notwithstanding the above caveats, I felt it worthwhile to add the three maps above as they had reached a level of readiness for publishing.
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Gazetteer update
In light of the proposal to extend the DART to Kilcock and construct a depot for the entire Greater Dublin Area DART stock, I have updated the Gazetteer with the addition of an inset map to the Kilcock Inset Map, to show the high level proposals.
These proposals are at the very early stage of the process and are likely to be subject to change, with a Railway Order being many years away. If and when updates are required, they will be added here.
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DART to Kilcock
It is now official – Irish Rail has announced plans for the extension of DART to Kilcock.
The background to this was the DART+WEST plan to extend the DART to Maynooth. When planning this, Irish Rail had originally planned to build a depot between Maynooth and Kilcock albeit closer to the latter than the former (I cynically suggested in a Letter to the Editor of the Liffey Champion that the townland where the depot was to be located under this plan be renamed “OneMileShort” as the depot (and associated overhead electrification) was 1 mile short of Kilcock).
An Bord Pleannala, as the relevant planning authority, approved the extension of DART to Maynooth but not the depot due its location on a flood plain. This effectively put the plan to extend the DART to Maynooth in abeyance as without a depot to store the new rolling stock, no service could operate.
When the ABP decision was announced, I suspected that the outcome would have to be a depot west of Kilcock as any location east of Kilcock/Maynooth would, if such existed, already have been selected by Irish Rail when planning DART+WEST. In addition, the further west you go, in theory, the cheaper the land should get.
The new proposals, which are now out for public consultation, include double tracking the line from Maynooth to the new depot site immediately adjacent to the Musgraves depot. It will also include retaining the existing town station but extending the existing platform towards Maynooth and adding a second platform. This will, however, see the canoe club building on the canal relocated.
Due to the presence of the architecturally significant 5 arch Jacksons Bridge, it is proposed to build a new section of line to the south of the existing railway to allow for electrification (the track here was originally double – spacing for double track is not the issue, which is insufficient clearance for overhead electrification).
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Royal Canal Map
Progress on creating maps of the Royal Canal and surrounding areas has gone better than I had anticipated, with the result that I have now put online maps of the canal from Leixlip to Clondra – i.e, only the Dublin section remains to be added.
Part of the reason for this is that my mapping source is ex copyright OS maps, which work fine for rural areas, but, in Dublin, due to development led road additions/realignments, a 50+ year old base map wont work.
Adding of the Dublin map detail will follow, once I can get out driving with a GPS and map the new roads to be added.
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Royal Canal
I am pleased to announce that I have started to further the utility of the Gazetteer on the site, by adding in the main canals/navigable waterways of Ireland.
The first map to be added is that for Kilcock, which is now live. It is my intention to then add updated maps for the rest of the Royal Canal before proceeding onto the other.
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Wrong target
One of the many things that annoys me about life in Ireland is the level of ignorance around responsibilities as in what Government body should be doing what, which gives rise to wasted effort on the part of campaigners who spend time barking up the wrong tree as they either demand something from a State body that has no responsibility in that regard or protest to the wrong level of authority about a law they don’t agree with (e.g. complaining to their local authority about EU derived legislation).
In this regard, the Department of Child indoctrination Education and Youth has a role to play, in requiring mandatory religion classes in schools and not some form of Civics class, which would explain how society (should) work.
When Joe Normie engages in such behaviour, I do give them the benefit of the doubt, due to the lack of such education in the school system. When this level of ignorance comes from an elected representative, I get very worried.
And so it is with this story from Kilmallock in Co. Limerick. The Dublin – Cork railway runs through Kilmallock (the station is, unfortunately, closed). This includes a road bridge over the railway line.
As is common in the 21st century, the level of road traffic in the area is far in excess of what these 19th century bridges were built for and there are calls for an adjacent footbridge to be built over the railway to accommodate pedestrians.
In relation to the funding of this, the rules in this regard are quite clear. Where the original bridge exists, CIE (Irish Rail), as successors to the original railway company, are responsible for the bridge. However, if a new bridge over the railway on a new/expanded footprint is required, the railway company is not responsible for the cost, this falling to the entity requiring the bridge (in most cases, this will be the local authority or TII).
This has not stopped Cllr. Eddie Ryan calling for Irish Rail to pay for a footbridge – the Limerick Leader reporting:
Meanwhile, independent councillor Eddie Ryan said that Irish Rail should be the ones funding the bridge, given the bridge crosses over railway tracks.
Limerick Leader https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/local-news/2018621/calls-for-pedestrian-bridge-in-busy-limerick-town-amid-highly-dangerous-road.html
IMHO, not only should a civics course be mandatory in secondary schools, it needs to be mandatory to pass such a course before election to public office.
Per the the Leinster Express, Waterways Ireland are running a guided tour of restoration work currently underway on the Barrow Line at Vicarstown, Co. Laois on 1st March 2026.
The event is open to all and attendees are asked to meet in front of the Vicarstown Bridge Cafe at 11am. The Kildare branch of the IWAI recommend appropriate footwear, which may be wellies.
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Galway canals funding
RTE reports that Galway City Council has secured funding from the EU to undertake the installation of three small hyrdo electric turbines along the underused waterways of the city.
It is an interesting initiative, especially in light of legislation requiring historic mill owners to pay for water abstraction for water removed from a watercourse to pass through their mill, notwithstanding that the water is returned to the watercourse in full a short distance later.
In addition, the wholesale destruction of mill dams will be undertaken in due course on foot of State instructions to prioritise fish.
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Blacksod Lighthouse commemoration
Blacksod Lighthouse in Co. Mayo is, perhaps, best known for its indirect role in changing the course of history in connection with the D-Day landings in 1944. This arose due to weather readings taken at the lighthouse by Maureen Sweeney, wife of the lighthouse keeper, resulting in the decision to delay the landing in Normandy by the Allied side in WW2 by a day.
The light at Blacksod Bay was first lit on 30 June 1866 and a series of commemorative events in connection with this 160 year anniversary will be held on the weekend of 27/28 June with another event on 30 June 2026.