The Ulster Canal was the white elephant of the Irish canal network. Never a commercial success for a multitude of reasons, the canal (running between the River Blackwater at Charlemont in Co. Armagh and Wattlebridge in Co. Fermanagh, via Co. Monaghan) opened in 1841, in the early days of the railway era in Ireland. Whilst the canal did "connect" Lough Neagh to Lough Erne, there were only two towns of significant size en route (Clones and Monaghan town) and these ended up on the railway network in 1858 and 1863 respectively, destroying any chance of significant traffic on the canal, even if the engineering defects of smaller locks compared to the rest of the canal/river navigations it connected to and the lack of a reliable water supply could have been overcome. This can be seen on the map below, with the railway line from Armagh to Monaghan to Clones taking more or less the same route as the canal. A wide range of connection of railways from Armagh and Clones further aided the superiority of the latter as the premier transport method in the area served by the canal. With limited success, the canal was officially closed in 1931 and left to its own devices.
"Restoration" of the canal (complete demolition of the existing built heritage to permit a modern era canal for the super cruiser brigade) has been something of a fetish for the Irish Government for many years (the Northern Ireland administration does not share this view, except for Sinn Fein), notwithstanding that every Cost Benefit Analysis returned a negative amount (i.e., the benefits of the canal being restored are far less than the projected cost). Studies conducted by the powers that be determined that c. 85% of these benefits would come from restoring the canal as a greenway but not a navigable waterway and I support this policy. In fact, I would advocate restoring the towpath for walking and the building of a cyclepath along the canal bed. This would allow for maximum retention of the canal's built heritage, including retention of existing towpaths under the bridges.
To kickstart the "restoration", the Finn River was made navigable to Castle Saunderson with proposals for a brand new section of canal from there east, rejoining the route of the Ulster Canal at Gortnacarrow. This would avoid the original Lock 26 and site of the demolished Lock 25 (the latter under the A3). More recently, in 2022, in a fit of madness by the Irish Government, the spending of taxpayer money for what will be nothing more than an open air swimming pool in Clones was approved, to allow the rebuilding and rewatering of the canal from east of the former canal store at Clones to the Monaghan/Fermanagh border. This will be completely unconnected to any other navigable waterway but includes plans for a marina. The mind boggles.
For many years, I was not the only voice speaking out against this madness - the late Brian J Goggin of irishwaterwayshistory.com wrote regularly thereon against the restoration of the canal, primarily on economic grounds. I link to the main page on this site for the Ulster Canal and recommend visiting and reading this as Brian has set out the arguments against the Ulster Canal restoration far better than I can.
Last modified: 22nd October 2022
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