Ulster Canal
The remains of the Ulster Canal at Tyholland
Specifications
Length	74 km (46 miles)
Locks	26
Status	largely abandoned
History
Date completed	1842
Date closed	1931
Geography
Start point	Charlemont, Lough Neagh
End point	Wattlebridge, Upper Lough Erne

Ulster Canal
River Bann Lagan Canal Lough Neagh Upper Bann + Newry Canal Coalisland Canal (derelict) River Blackwater 1 Charlemont lock 2 Blackwatertown lock Tullymore Bridge Maydown Bridge 3-8 Benburb flight Caledon aqueduct Tynan Bridge 9 lock Middleton aqueduct 10 lock 11-17 lock flight Monaghan 18-19 lock flight Quig Lough feeder Summit pound 20 lock 21 lock 22 Templegate lock Finn River aqueduct 23-24 Glear locks Clones Cloncorick Bridge 25 Gartnacarrow lock 26 lock River Finn Lough Erne + River Erne Shannon–Erne Waterway

The Ulster Canal is a canal running through part of County Armagh, County Tyrone and County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland and County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. The Ulster Canal was built between 1825 and 1842 and was 74 km (46 mi) long with 26 locks. It ran from Charlemont on the River Blackwater to near Wattlebridge on the Finn River, south-east of Upper Lough Erne. It was an ill-considered venture, with the locks built narrower than the other Irish waterways, preventing through trade, and an inadequate water supply. It was an abject failure commercially, and contributed to the collapse of the Lagan Navigation Company, who took it over from the government but were then refused permission to abandon it when they could not afford the maintenance costs. It finally closed in 1931. Waterways Ireland started work on rebuilding the canal at its southern end in 2015.

History

In 1778, a proposal was made for a canal from Ballyshannon to the Lower Lough Erne. The estimated cost of the scheme was £32,000, but it was already seen as part of a larger project, since a further £8,000 would have provided a link to Enniskillen, Belturbet and Ballyconnell. A future link from Ballyconnell to Ballymore, along the Woodford River valley, and on to Lough Scurr and the River Shannon at Leitrim was suggested but not costed. It would thus be an important section of a trans-Irish waterway, linking Belfast in the east to Limerick in the west, which would compete with a similar link formed by the Grand Canal and the Royal Canal further to the south. Government funding was forthcoming in 1783, and a section of the canal was constructed between Ballyshannon and Belleek, with Richard Evans, the engineer for the Royal Canal, overseeing the work, which included a lock at Belleek. The project stalled in 1794, when funds ran out.^[1]

The Directors General of Inland Navigation asked Evans to prepare an estimate of the costs to finish the work in 1801, but no action was taken. By 1814, the Directors General were faced with problems of unemployment in the area, and a canal from Lough Neagh to Lough Erne was seen as a way to provide jobs for the local population. John Killaly was commissioned to survey the route of such a link, and produced his report in February 1815. His estimate of £233,000 would provide a canal which ascended through six locks from Wattlebridge to a summit near Monaghan and then descended through another sixteen to reach Lough Neagh. It would be 35.5 miles (57.1 km) long, and would include a branch to Armagh. The plan was ill-thought-out, as he decided to make the locks of a similar size to those on the Royal Canal, 76 by 14 feet (23.2 by 4.3 m), which would accommodate boats up to about 13.3 feet (4.1 m) wide, but those that already used Lough Neagh, and the Lagan Canal, the Newry Canal and the Coalisland Canal, were 14.8 feet (4.5 m) wide, and would not therefore be able to use the route.^[2]

A public meeting was held at Monaghan in February 1817, and despite strong local support, including an offer to provide two-thirds of the cost by a group of landowners and businessmen, the Directors General did not take any action, and the project remained an idea. The proprietors who had taken over the Lagan Canal in 1810 saw the link as a way to increase traffic on their own canal, and public support for it grew steadily, until a large group of people requested parliamentary approval for a revised scheme, which was very similar to Killaly's of a decade previously. The government remained unconvinced that they would receive a return on any money advanced, and so the Directors General could not act. Finally, in 1825, a private company was authorised to construct the canal. It was estimated to cost £160,050, as a new survey had produced a plan which only needed eighteen locks.^[3]

The company then applied to the borrow £100,000 from the Exchequer Bill Loan Commission, a body created under the Poor Employment Act of 1817. The engineer Thomas Telford was sent to Ireland to inspect the plans and estimates, which he duly approved, but the interest rates on the loan could not be agreed, and three further Acts of Parliament were obtained before a loan of £120,000 was agreed. Problems were then experienced with the contractors, Henry, Mullins and MacMahon from Dublin, who were awarded the construction contract in 1832. Telford then decided that there were serious problems with the design and that a new survey should be made. This increased the number of locks to 26, and the contractors were asked for a new estimate. Agreement could not be reached, and they eventually withdrew from the project. John Killaly, the local engineer, died in 1832, and it is not known whether he decided to reduce the width of the locks before he died, or whether the decision was made by Telford, but they were built 12 feet (3.7 m) wide, preventing through traffic except in specially built boats. William Cubitt succeeded Telford after he died in 1834. The canal was eventually finished in 1841. From the summit pound, nineteen locks descended to Lough Neagh, and in the other direction, seven descended to Lough Erne. Water was supplied by Quig Lough reservoir, a lake near Monaghan which had been enlarged. The final lock at Wattlebridge was only 11.7 feet (3.6 m) wide, making it the narrowest in Ireland. The project had cost over £230,000.^[4]

Route

The canal at Clones Road, Monaghan.

The canal follows a fairly straight south-west to north-east course, from the island and townland of Derrykerrib, at the mouth of the Finn River, very near Wattlebridge in the south-east of County Fermanagh, to Charlemont in the north-west of County Armagh, where it joins the River Blackwater. There were two locks close to the Finn River, two beyond Clones, and three near Smithborough, where the summit was reached. The summit pound was less than 6 miles (10 km) long, and was fed from Quig Lough reservoir, just to the north of the end of the summit. Two locks drop the level before Monaghan is reached and there is a flight of seven shortly after the town. The border with County Armagh in Northern Ireland crosses the canal below them. There are two isolated locks near Middletown, and the a level section before the canal reaches a gorge to the west of Benburb. Fitting the canal through here presented a lot of problems for the builders, as another six locks were required in awkward terrain. There is another lock above Blackwatertown, and the final lock below Charlemont, before the canal joins the River Blackwater.^[8]

The summit level was 213 feet (65 m) above sea level. The original locks were built for boats which were 62 by 11 feet (18.9 by 3.4 m). Of the large number of bridges that crossed the canal, 56 remained in 2002.^[8]

Restoration

A feasibility study into the possible reopening of the waterway was carried out in 1998 (and revised in 2000). The report found that there were no insurmountable engineering problems to such a plan but issues such as lock capacity/size and the adequacy of the water supply would need to be addressed. All historic locks would need to be significantly widened to at least 5 metres (16 ft) to accommodate modern waterway craft. A restored canal would create significant long-term financial benefits to the local economy; however, the report concluded that unless the reasons that caused it to be an abject failure in the first place were addressed, there seemed little point in restoring the canal.^[8]

Ulster Canal at Tyholland.

In 2004 Waterways Ireland announced that a reopened canal would bring enormous benefits to the areas it passed through,^[9] because it would reconnect with the already restored Shannon–Erne Waterway (opened 23 May 1994). Rather than being a true restoration, it involved the construction of a state-of-the-art waterway along a historic route, and a similar approach would be required on the Ulster Canal.^[10]

At the North/South Ministerial Council meeting on 17 July 2007, it was announced that the governments would work towards the restoration of the stretch of the canal linking the town of Clones, in County Monaghan, to Upper Lough Erne. The cost of the development would be €35 million, paid for by the Irish Exchequer.^[11][12] In August 2010, Waterways Ireland published an Ulster Canal Restoration Plan, an Environmental Report and an Appropriate Assessment.^[13] In September 2010 it held two Public Information Days, one in Clones, County Monaghan, and one in Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh, and invited written comments on its plans by 30 September 2010. Reports on the proposed restoration were available in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.^[14][15]

Despite a few objections,^[16] Minister Heather Humphreys announced in February 2015 that the Irish government had given its approval to Waterways Ireland for the restoration of the canal between Castle Saunderson and Erne basin. The funding would come from Waterways Ireland.^[17] On 24 April 2015 the project was formally launched, when a meeting was held at Derrykerrib Bridge, attended by Heather Humphreys and representatives of Waterways Ireland. The first phase involved extending the Erne Navigation from Quivvy Lough to Castle Saunderson, near Belturbet. Of the 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) forming this phase, some 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) was a new cut, following a somewhat different route to the original canal, and a new Derrykerrib Bridge was built, to increase the size of boats that can pass through it. Dredging of a section of the Finn River was expected to take place in Autumn 2015,^[18] but this was delayed, with "contractual issues" being cited as the cause. Waterways Ireland's budget for 2016 included €2.7 million earmarked for the Ulster Canal project.^[19] There were further delays caused by poor ground conditions, flooding, and the need to maintain access for residents while the work was ongoing. The new bridge and its associated channel were expected to be completed by April 2018.^[20] The first phase of the Ulster Canal restoration was nearing completion in September 2019.^[21]

With phase 1 completed and open to the public, funding for phase 2 of the project was announced. The Taoiseach's Shared Island fund promised €6 million in December 2020, and a further €5.57 million was provided by the Department of Rural and Community Development on 28 April 2021. This will fund a relatively short section, detached from the Phase 1 section, between Clones and Clonfad in County Monaghan. The work includes around 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) of canal and towpath, a 40-berth marina, two new bridges and restoration of a third bridge, together with the provision of an amenity area with car parks. Crucially, it will include the provision of a sustainable water supply. The main project is expected to be completed in mid-2023, with some of the amenities taking a little longer. Phase 3 of the project, which will increase the length of restored canal to 13.5 kilometres (8.4 mi), will link the first two phases together, and involves several crossings of the border.^[22][23]

See also

• Canals of the United Kingdom
• Canals of Ireland

Bibliography

External links

• Inland Waterways Association of Ireland's index of information on the Ulster Canal
• Industrial Heritage Ireland Info page on Ulster Canal
• Ulster Canal, Benburb

54°08′N 7°22′W / 54.133°N 7.367°W / 54.133; -7.367