The Grand Canal was completed to the River Shannon in 1804, 220 years ago. By 1864 passenger traffic was finished and commercial by 1960. Cruise traffic was only in its infancy and when this article was written 45 years ago things were bleak. In looking at the building of the Grand Canal from Tullamore to … Continue reading Shannon Harbour, completed in 1804, and described by Sean Olson in 1979, 45 years ago. Canal events this August weekend, 45 years on, in Pollagh and Tullamore. Article no. 7 in the Offaly History Anniversaries Series.

Ted Barrett, one of the pioneers of cruising on the canal, was well aware of its environmental and leisure value. By the late 1960s he was advocating linking the canals with the lakes that might be made from the disused bogs to form a type of Norfolk Broads in Ireland.[1] In this letter of October … Continue reading 61 Cruising on Grand Canal sixty years ago: Thanks from E.C. Barrett of Joy Line Cruisers reporting on the year 1964 season. No. 61 in the Grand Canal Offaly series

Banagher, County Offaly has associations with two well-known writers of the nineteenth century – Anthony Trollope and Charlotte Bronte.  Up to recent years nothing by way of notice of this was to be found in Banagher, but that has all changed as Banagher, now hard pressed along its main street, looks again to embrace tourism … Continue reading 59 ‘The month of September in Banagher, and all along the Shannon banks, is visually a glorious one, with golden autumn mornings, the low sun making long shadows of the houses in the street’, Pope Hennessy, Bence Jones, Trollope, Banagher and the Shannon/Grand Canal landscape. No. 59 in the Grand Canal Offaly series

Last week we looked at the history of steamers on the Shannon. Today we take the account of Henry D. Inglis published in 1835. Inglis was a professional travel writer and author of Spain in 1830, A Journey through Norway etc, published his A Journey throughout Ireland during the Spring, Summer and Autumn of 1834 … Continue reading 58 Henry Inglis travels on a River Shannon steam boat and includes Killaloe, Portumna, Banagher and Athlone on his Tour in 1834. No 58 in the Grand Canal series.

The history of passenger steamers on the Shannon, covering a period of 140 years, was traced by Dr McNeill of Southampton University, in a lecture jointly sponsored by the Old Athlone Society and the local branch of the Inland Waterways Association, and held in the Prince of Wales Hotel, Athlone, in January 1966.[1] Dr McNeill … Continue reading 57 The Golden Era of Shannon Steamers. No 57 in the Grand Canal series.