The year was 1784. It was the year the Grand Canal came to this part of Ireland. The artificial waterway was first conceived in 1755 yet the 127 km route from Dublin to the River Shannon (Shannon Harbour, Co. Offaly) wasn’t completed until 1804.
A barge navigating the full route has to pass through 36 locks and cross over the River Liffey at the four-arched Leinster Aqueduct in Co. Kildare.
While commercial traffic stopped in 1960, recreational barging is still very much alive and well. It’s a fabulous way to see the country. I’ve taken a couple of two-day trips on both the Royal Canal and the Grand Canal and also in Canal de Garonne in France. Barging is by far my favourite water activity.
It’s slow. Very slow.
The former towpaths are now footpaths, bringing new life to the waterside with myriad cafés and restaurants copying the French model and setting up shop to cater for walkers and bargers alike. [I happily and highly recommended the caramel slice and the coffee at the Digby Bridge Café at Lock 13 near the Leinster Aqueduct.]
Back in the day, the Grand Canal Company spotted a gap in the market, opening five hotels along the route to provide overnight accommodation for passengers. I can only find references to three of them – in Portobello, Dublin (1807); in Robertstown, Co. Kildare (1801); and Shannon Harbour, Co. Offaly (1806). The ones in James’s Street (Dublin) and Tullamore, Co. Offaly are gone completely.
It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to conjure up any of the 100,000 plus passengers who travelled along the canal in a given year in the first half of the nineteenth century. Had I been around then, I’d have been one of them, complete with my travel trunk, kid gloves, and parasol.
By all accounts, the food and accommodation at the Grand Hotel in Robertstown were exceptional and in much demand. At least until the mid-1800s, when passengers began to find other ways to get around.
From 1869 to 1905, the hotel was taken over by the Royal Irish Constabulary, although it’s hard to imagine there being a need for so many given the size of the village today. According to the last census in 2016, 707 people call Robertstown home.
It sat idle for some 30+ years before Bord na Mona took it over as a billeting camp for workers on the local bogs.
Since the 1970s it’s been used by the local community. But word has it, that in recent times, it’s been sold. It was high on my Lotto list, even if An Taisce rates it as being of poor structure and high risk. I’d have figured out a way to wash the 72 windows but I’m not sure I’d be using the 62 hearths. But I was a day late and a few million dollars short.
As we wandered in search of the houseboats (moored further up the road in the marina at Lowtown, the highest point of the canal), I found myself slipping into old age. The two-storey terraced houses that line the footpath were calling out to me. Were I looking for a last house, I’d be seriously searching here.
There’s a strong community vibe. The signs are there. I imagine everyone knowing everyone, which is good. And bad.
It has a very arty feel to it, too.
The two-week Canal Fest was first held in 1965. I’m not sure if it’s still going strong. Back then, the opening act was Agnes Bernelle waterskiing on the canal drawn by a galloping horse. But more fame would come the way of the village when it was cast in the role of the fictional village of Skebawn in the three seasons of the TV series The Irish RM.
I was particularly taken by the rubbish bins.
I’ve been doing some reading and quite fancy investigating the culinary school at The Ivy. And the complimentary guided walks along the canal.
Next time, though, we need to venture around the corner and check out Lowtown, the summit of the Grand Canal at 85 m above sea level.
If you’re visiting Ireland this summer, you could do worse than walk the Grand Canal or hire a barge and cruise your way across the country.
Highly recommended.
Share this:
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
- Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)