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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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 thought struck me that supporters of the Ulster Canal - being fans of 18th century technology - could start lobbying for a similar network to be setup in Ulster as a job creation measure.

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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"If Bald's road was ambitious when he started it in 1832, it's a route that would never be built today says David Orr."

"One of the conundrums of this road is that if we were trying to build it today I don't think it would be allowed."

sum up a view I have long held about engineering heritage structures. Whilst most local communities would object to the demolition of same, if you were to propose building something similar in an area that did not have same, NIMBYism would defeat the proposal.

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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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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Unfortunately, they strayed into commenting on the Guinness connection to Celbridge and Leixlip, a subject that probably ranks second in my knowledge of industrial heritage matters at this stage (after railways). For Celbridge, the article recommends visitors to have a drink in the Village Inn "where the noble Arthur Guinness himself came into this world". Based on research carried out by Patrick Guinness (a descendant of Arthur Guinness) in his seminal work "Arthur's Round", Arthur Guinness was in fact born on the site next door to the Village Inn - now occupied by a pub called "The Mucky Duck".

When Arthur married, his mother in law owned a pub on Celbridge Main Street - on the other side of the Village Inn. The site is now occupied by a SPAR. Notwithstanding the presence of the Arthur G's bar in the Village Inn, there is no evidence to suggest that Arthur Guinness had a connection to this property.

Concerning Leixlip, the article states "It was most likely that the Guinness we know or a brand close to it was first brewed on the same site that the Courtyard Hotel is on". Not so. For the first 20 years or so, Arthur Guinness produced ale and it was only in the mid to late 1770s (1776 being a generally accepted date) that he started to brew porter - or what has evolved into Guinness. The article also notes that he had 21 children (correct) but neglects to mention that 10 of these died in childbirth/infancy.

I suppose I should be thankful that the anonymous article writer did not mention that hoary chestnut about the £100 legacy from Dr. Arthur Price being what enabled Arthur to set up a brewery (also debunked by Patrick Guinness in Arthur's Round).

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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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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Separately, I have created a page in connection with the modern day road bridge over the Ulster Canal in Monaghan Town, giving examples of two other bridges (co-incidentally both in Ulster - making the Monaghan bridge the third bridge to nowhere) which were built to accommodate plans that never saw the light of day.

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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industrialheritageireland.info wishes this venture every success.

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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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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