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Last December, I posted in this blog about an anomaly on the 6" Ordnance Survey Maps in relation to the 13th Lock on the Royal Canal at Blakestown, which is reported thereon as the 9th Lock.

I was on an organised walk along the Royal Canal towpath from Binns Bridge to Ashtown today given by Peter Clarke - author of one of the two published histories of the Royal Canal. He advised the audience that originally the branch to Broadstone was the mainline and the line of canal from the junction with same to the Liffey was the branch (similar to the way the Grand Canal mainline ran from Grand Canal Harbour behind Guinness with the circular line running from immediately east of the 1st Lock to the Liffey at Grand Canal Docks).

Accordingly, it would appear that what is now the 13th lock would, at one stage, have been the 9th lock as what we know as the 5th lock would have been the first lock of the mainline. The Ordnance Survey overlooked the amendment required for this lock when updating the others on the mainline.

Days Hotel Belfast - located in a lovely area of Belfast where the Union Jack flies from every lamppost and the kerbstones are painted blue white and red.

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Compared to Cork (800 in 1985) or Dublin (1000 in 1988), Belfast is a relative youngster. A charter was granted on 27th April 1613 which established the city and allowed the building of a quay (prior to this, Carrickfergus was the port for this area of Ireland). The BBC has a piece about Belfast which focuses on the harbour.

Separately, the Belfast Telegraph has an article with extensive photographs also on the theme of Belfast 400, many of which are industrial in nature.

Days Hotel Belfast - located in a lovely area of Belfast where the Union Jack flies from every lamppost and the kerbstones are painted blue white and red.

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Western Way was built by the Midland Great Western Railway to improve access to their station at Broadstone. I led a walk for the Dublin Local History Meetup today, which finished by walking down Western Way. Whilst doing so, I noticed something that has escaped my notice previously.

On Western Way, the lampposts are ex trampole light standards. One of the gripes about Broadstone was that it was never connected to the tram network (something that the RPA intend to rectify!). As the tramlines were removed, most of the poles were left in situ along the original tram routes as lampposts. Some were relocated/reused elsewhere and Western Way would appear to have been a beneficiary of same.

The other point I noticed was a distinct lodge style building on the southern side of the road. Upon checking the 25" OS map, this happens to be adjacent to the gates marked on same which marked the railway company's entrance.

Days Hotel Belfast - located in a lovely area of Belfast where the Union Jack flies from every lamppost and the kerbstones are painted blue white and red.

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As mentioned previously, I have been undertaking research into the bridges on the Royal Canal between the 1st and 5th Locks in Dublin. Having led a successful walk and talk with the Dublin Local History Meetup today, I have published the research in the IH Wiki. This can be accessed at the link below:

http://industrialheritageireland.info/TikiWiki/tiki-index.php?page=Royal+Canal+-+1st+Lock+to+5th+Lock

Days Hotel Belfast - located in a lovely area of Belfast where the Union Jack flies from every lamppost and the kerbstones are painted blue white and red.

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Irish Railfan's news was a privately produced publication which ran from January 1955 to November 1973. The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland have secured permission from the publishers of same to reproduce the publications on their website. Industrialheritageireland.info would like to commend both the RPSI and the IRFN producers for this initiative which allows this important record of Irish railway activity to be readily available in advance of copyright expiry, which would not start until 2026 for the first editions and stagger on until 2044 for the last edition.

Days Hotel Belfast - located in a lovely area of Belfast where the Union Jack flies from every lamppost and the kerbstones are painted blue white and red.

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Open - not restored. I have skimmed through Ruth Delany's publications and can find that that construction started in 1790 at Cross Gunns Bridge. Elsewhere I also found a reference to the canal being open to Kilcock by 1796. What I cannot find is when the first section of canal opened and what this section was. At the back of my head, I have a vague memory of reading that boats travelled as far as Leixlip until the aqueduct across the Rye Valley was built but have not been able to substantiate it.

The other point that my research has thrown up is the assertion that the Royal Canal was transferred to the Great Southern Railways in 1938. Given that the MGWR had purchased the Royal Canal in 1845 and the MGWR ceased to exist in 1925 upon merging into the Great Southern Railways, what is the basis for the date of 1938?

Days Hotel Belfast - located in a lovely area of Belfast where the Union Jack flies from every lamppost and the kerbstones are painted blue white and red.

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very slowly. Except it wasn't always that way. The Irish Times of 15th June 1872 reported that in court on 14th June 1872, Frederick Allison was fined 20s and 20s costs for assaulting the night watchman at Newcomen Bridge on 13th June 1872.

Days Hotel Belfast - located in a lovely area of Belfast where the Union Jack flies from every lamppost and the kerbstones are painted blue white and red.

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The advantage of talking to a wider audience outside of the narrow confines of IH can be bringing to your attention new information that you were unaware of. Last weekend I led a walk (that I researched and developed) for the Dublin Local History Meetup from Stephen's Green to "The Church" on Mary Street, the nature of the historical walk and talk being properties connected with the Guinness family.

As the route passed by the back of Tailor's Hall (now home to An Taisce), I paused there to allow the participants to regroup and gave a mention to the past of Tailor's Hall as a guildhall, erroneously stating that it was the only remaining building in Dublin that had been used as such. Other members of the group corrected me - pointing out that Merchant's Arch was another such building.

Cue a Google search today and I found out where Merchant's Arch is. It is the building over the alleyway that runs from the south side of the Halfpenny Bridge to Temple Bar. The link to IH is that in a later life, this was also used as a factory for poplin manufacture (poplin is a type of fabric). I have a lot of updating to the IH Wiki to do!

Days Hotel Belfast - located in a lovely area of Belfast where the Union Jack flies from every lamppost and the kerbstones are painted blue white and red.

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I am coming to the end of research on the above topic and will be publishing a page in the IH Wiki on 30th March 2013 in connection with the research carried out by me - which changed my understanding of the history of this section of the Royal Canal. The reason for the time lag is that I have offered to lead a walk on 29th March (Good Friday) to a local history group that I am a member of to outline my research and its findings.

Days Hotel Belfast - located in a lovely area of Belfast where the Union Jack flies from every lamppost and the kerbstones are painted blue white and red.

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Not in recent times! The Galway Independent has a feature about a 19th Century proposal for a ship canal from Galway to Dublin. For any potential investors, it was lucky it did not come to pass as the railway age (starting in Ireland from 1834) would have wiped out the economics of any such project.

Days Hotel Belfast - located in a lovely area of Belfast where the Union Jack flies from every lamppost and the kerbstones are painted blue white and red.

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