The Newry Canal - from Lough Neagh to Carlingford Lough
Вставка
- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- An aerial study of the Newry Canal, filmed between April and June in 2016.
The Newry Canal was built to link the Tyrone coalfields (via Lough Neagh and the River Bann) to the Irish Sea at Carlingford Lough near Newry. It was the first summit level canal to be built in Ireland or Great Britain. It was authorised by the Commissioners of Inland Navigation for Ireland, and was publicly funded.
It was opened in 1742, but there were issues with the lock construction, the width of the summit level and the water supply. Below Newry, a ship canal was opened in 1769, and both Newry and the canal flourished.
By 1800, the canal was in a poor condition, and another £57,000 of public money was spent refurbishing it over the following ten years. Closures during the refurbishment resulted in a loss of traffic, which did not fully recover.
In 1829, both canals were transferred to a private company, who spent £80,000 on improvements over the next twenty years. The ship canal was enlarged in 1884, to allow ships of 5,000 tons to reach Newry. It reverted to public ownership in 1901, when the Newry Port and Harbour Authority was created. The canal closed in 1936 and most of it was officially abandoned in 1949, with some in 1956. The ship canal closed in 1966 and the Authority was wound up in 1974.
Two sections of the redundant canal were bought by local authorities, for two pounds each, and the middle section was given to another two local authorities. The ship canal has been reopened for use by pleasure craft, and there have been attempts to reopen the Newry Canal, which have not yet been successful.
The towpath has become part of a long distance footpath and also part of the National Cycle Network. Some restoration has taken place, and the canal has become a haven for wildlife. Parts of it are also used for coarse fishing.
I have watched this a number of times. It is a monumental piece of work. A great contribution to recording our topographical history.
Wow, what a trip.Just beautiful. Newry looks like a big place now, I used to spend Holliday’s with an aunt there in the 1950s. I live in Australia and have never been back there in 53 years.
had a short break in portadown 2017 ,cycled the canal right out to the end and swam in the bann as it entered lough neagh...wonderful to see it again especially in such a heavenly way ....thanks
This is from where we were born all the way to the sea. I loved it. Thank you for filming and sharing Connor Sweeney.
I will share it with my brother who just flew back there to that area yesterday after visit to his sister living in Delaware, Ohio, USA.
Thanks you for your kind comments.
Brilliant. Very soothing to watch. Great to see Scarva from the air.
Am from Newry annd am a bit obsessed with rivers and canals. Thank you.
I think it comes with the territory!
Dankie/ Merci 4 the video, Connor Sweeney. Carlingford Lough was mentioned in a YT video and said it was disputed between Ire and England. I looked it up in a map a got from Londeon, England (L1.99@Dec. 1998).
I was under the understanding that an ancestor, David Johannes Morries (1883-1961) was an Irish [and aided the Boers (1899-1902)], but new evidence show DJM's father was Henry Morris (* - +) from England and went to South Africa for the diamonds founded at Kimberly (1866) ... Thx for the video. It looks quite nice.
All the development because of this water body having highest 3 D aerial view . Lot of thanks for captions.
Excellent work! I never knew it was such a large area! Great perseverance.
This is superb!! Really brings out the landscape and relative sizes of the Bann, Newry Canal and Newry Ship Canal.
Thanks!
Well done to Conor for the great drone/camera work - a great job for the enlightenment of us transport history enthusiasts. It also gives a physical depiction of the whole Newry Canal, Clanrye River & Upper Bann River systems. This is important work and I'm glad there is the love our there for it and the talent to capture it. Any chance you'd drone track the disused line from Goraghwood through Lisummon Tunnel (Irelans'd longest - over it, I mean!) past Markethill and on on to Armagh. I'm a rail nut also.
Niall O'Neill thanks.
That would be an interesting one to do. There are lots of old lines that would be good to see today.
What a fantastic and epic feat you have achieved in this video. I van only imagine all of the planning and catologuing of clips, not to mention the countless journeys back and forth to each location along the route. Beautiful countryside and small towns as well. Well done from me. You've earned my sub.
Nivek Nilknarf thanks. It took a fair bit of work alright. I would do two sections in the morning, then go to work and charge up the batteries and do another two in the evening. The weather was a good help!
thanks for all your effort - a very satisfying journey
Many thanks.
Very well done. Most enjoyable.
When was the canal last navigable? Are there any plans to restore it? The lower Bann connects Lough Neagh to the sea at Castlerock, it would be great to have this connection too.
Absolutely beautiful just what Newry needs
Well done.
I enjoyed every minute.
Excellent video and a lot of hard work. You have a lot of guts flying over water so much! I did a wee drone flight around Narrow Water a few months back and my heart was in my mouth the whole time.
I have lost two into the water so far. Both my own fault. But the new technology is superb now and there's little to go wrong! Famous last words, I hope not!
Wonderful piece of creativity - work of art.. Well done Connor.
Many thanks Joseph.
Great job on this video....👍👍👍You got my mind going now. Thanks
awsome footage sir
Thanks for making this! I bet it was quite a project. I just got a kayak and intend to paddle part of the way. 👍🏻
Hi Chris - could I suggest you get in touch with the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland - they have a Portadown branch. You can find them on Facebook. They would be best placed to advise on where to paddle as I believe it can be quite shallow in places.
This really is fantastic.
Many thanks.
really really well done! beautiful
Great aerial video, thanks
Great video thanks.
Thanks. Great work.
Would be lovely to see it opened again for boats
Great trip, tks.
very impressive work
Many thanks.
Looks like this water route could use some investment to make it a tourist attraction for boaters and the like ?
Really good well done 👍
Great video 👌
Connor your best yet !
Thanks Thomas!
Awesome!!
Thanks Ryan.
This is great 👍👍
Great Video
You covered a lot of ground.
Which phantom were you using?
How far did you go during that flight and where you using the litchi program
Filmed using a P3A. Total distance is around 32 miles (I believe). It was filmed over around 35 stages, each one with me in the middle of the section; flew out about half a mile and then followed the course of the waterway then directly back. Preprogrammed on Litchi, but with manual control available at all times.
Thanks for the info. I will remember it for any long flights
Incredible!!! How many miles per battery? And how many miles total?
Set up using Litchi. Pre programmed for about 9 minute flights. About 30 in total although quite a few had to be done twice.
+connor sweeney and how many miles could you cover in 9 minutes?
Each stage was about a mile in length I think. I deleted each section as it was done, so I can't remember now! Batteries can last up to 19 minutes so there was a large margin of error left in for safety reasons.
im irish and i have been on a boat
Nice vid.
Thank you.
Answer me this, why have they cut most of the trees down for the stretch of canal from Carbane into Newry😡
Islwyn Taylor no idea. I just filmed it.
connor sweeney It is a beautiful piece of film. I used to walk the towpath, but no longer can. It seems that trees no longer matter in Northern Ireland. Everywhere I look, the landscape is being butchered...
Pity there are no pike left
Nice work! Was it filmed from a helicopter?
Sott Media looks like drone footage.
🇮🇪🇮🇪🥰🥰🥰👍👍👋
There's my dealers house!
Due to constant government cutbacks and inflation in that country. place is far too expensive and really not worth going there.