Royal Canal
The Royal Canal ( Irish : An Chanáil Ríoga ) is a canal system in Ireland . The Royal Canal is around 146 km long, has a total of 47 locks and stretches from Dublin to the River Shannon , which it meets north of Lough Ree .
history
The Royal Canal was built together with the Grand Canal to the south at the end of the 18th century. Construction began in 1790. The cost for the construction of the canal was almost 1.5 million pounds sterling . In 1817 the first cargo ship passed the entire route through the canal. In addition to the main canal, several branch canals were built to various cities. The development of the railroad from 1852 and later of the road network led to the canal's loss of importance. The Great Southern Railways bought the canal in the 1920s and consequently let it deteriorate. In 1961 the canal was closed to commercial shipping. After that the canal disintegrated and was also used as a garbage dump. There were plans to fill in the Royal Canal and the Grand Canal and build a city motorway on them. It is thanks to a citizens' initiative founded in 1974 that these plans were prevented. In 1986 the canal was transferred to the state-owned Waterways Ireland Company, which restored it and has been operating it ever since.
Tourist use
Today the canal no longer has any industrial significance. After more than 50 years of downtime, the canal is used again for houseboat trips. The Royal Canal Way long-distance hiking trail leads along the restored towpaths along the banks to Mullingar . The route through Dublin, however, leads through run-down areas. The canal runs right past Croke Park , the largest sports stadium in Ireland.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ "History". Royal Canal Action Group. ( Memento of October 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ Ireland: Royal Canal In: www.boote-magazin.de of October 15, 2013
- ^ Royal Canal Way In: www.irishtrails.ie