History

Dick Warner came to our school in September 2000 to help us with our canal project. He told us the history of the Grand Canal. At the start there were lots of problems. The government had to find rich men to pay for the work of building the canal. Before the canal was built they had to plan a route. The people who decided on the route were engineers. Some people wanted the canals because they thought they would improve travel. Two hundred years ago the roads were very bad and dangerous. But other people didn't want canals at all. The people in charge of road transport were afraid that they would lose money. Some farmers didn't want canals going through their land.
One of the big problems for the engineers was carrying the canal across rivers. The Grand Canal crossed two major rivers, the Liffey and the Barrow. Work started on the Liffey crossing in 1780. This became known as the Leinster Aqueduct. It was also a feeder for the canal. Water was pumped from the Liffey into the canal. We visited the aqueduct in October 2000. Dick Warner came with us on our trip. He explained how the canal was carried over the Liffey. We saw the water pump.

The canal was opened to traffic on 2nd February 1779. Thomas Digby was the first trader on the canal. He carried stone, clay and coal into the city of Dublin. The boats carried horse dung back to the countryside for spreading in the fields. Dick told us that there were thousands of horses in Dublin 200 years ago.
The first passenger boat on the canal began to travel in August 1780 between Sallins and Dublin. The boat left Dublin at 6 a.m. every Monday and Thursday and it returned every Tuesday and Friday.

In October 1784 the passenger service was extended to Robertstown. The Grand Canal Company decided to build a hotel at Sallins. Robertstown became a major centre of traffic because it was the junction of the Barrow and the Shannon lines. One line ran west across the Bog of Allen to join the Shannon at Shannon Harbour in Co. Offaly. The other ran south following the line of the Barrow River all the way to Waterford. Work began on the Barrow line in 1783. Carrying the canal across the Bog of Allen was very difficult because the bog was always subsiding. There were great problems keeping the correct level of water in the canal.

Early in 1797 the canal was opened at Philipstown (Daingean). It was expected that the line to Tullamore would be completed by the end of the year but constant breaches occured in the walls of the canal. Everything was delayed. The engineers planned to use the River Brosna for the last section of the canal to the Shannon but this wasn't possible. It was decided to construct a canal the whole distance of 22 miles from Tullamore to the Shannon, 8 of which were through bog. The work was completed in 1802. The main line of the canal crosses Leinster from Dublin to the Shannon making it possible to travel by boat from Dublin to Limerick. While the engineers were working to complete the canal to the Shannon and build the harbour at Shannon Harbour, work was also proceeding to link the Dublin section of the canal to the mouth of the Liffey at Ringsend. This was a canal nearly 4 miles long with 7 locks which followed a circular route across the south of the city. This section was completed in 1796 and there were great celebrations for the opening. The Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Camden, was invited to perform the opening ceremony. His boat was followed by about 20 barges and pleasure yachts. There were 1,000 guests and thousands more onlookers. On Wednesday 15th November 2000 we visited the Waterways Visitors Centre at Ringsend where the Liffey, the Dodder and the canal all meet.

The years of the Second World War gave the canal a great boost because petrol was scarce and road transport was restricted so there was an increase in trade on the canal. The horse was back in business again.
The Grand Canal Company was merged with Coras Iompar Eireann in 1950. One of its main traders was Guinness's brewery. However, all the commercial boats had stopped using the canal by 1960 apart from a very small amount of local traffic. By then there was very little pleasure traffic using the canal.
In the 1990's the Government transferred the Grand Canal System from C.I.E. to the Board of Works. Duchas was then in charge of the system. In December 1999 Waterways Ireland took over the responsibility for the canals. This is a cross border body with a North - South ministerial council. Ms. Sheila DeValera is the southern minister and Mr. Michael McGimpsey represents the north. Our project - Dissolving Boundaries through Technology in Education - is part of the North South Initative.