The Broharris Canal.

When I was checking W.A. McCutcheon's book, "The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland," for detail on the Strabane Canal I came upon a few paragraphs on what was referred to as the Broharris Canal. I had heard of this navigation but knew nothing about it save for its approximate location. It was some two miles in length and ran in a south easterly direction from Ballymacran Point. It was constructed during the 1820's at a cost of £4,500. McCutcheon relates that certain heavy and bulky foodstuffs and raw materials were trafficked along the canal but that it was mainly used to bring ashore shellfish and kelp from the shallows of Lough Foyle. The kelp was employed extensively as a fertiliser on the slob lands of Myroe and the surrounding area. I suspect that the cut must have been contiguous to the Burnfoot River.

Not long after the construction of the Broharris Canal there was a proposal to construct a separate canal which would have been some 3 miles and 10 chains in length and would have ran from Ballymacran Point to a basin in the townland of Shanreagh about a mile from the then boundaries of Limavady. It was envisaged that two locks would have been required and that the canal would have had a bottom width of twenty feet and a top width of thirty five and a depth of five feet. A John Killaly carried out a survey and he estimated that construction costs would be some £12,155. Nothing came of this proposal.

Sources: W. A. McCutcheon - "The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland."

The Strabane Canal - A Short History

This navigation extended some four miles and five chains from Strabane to the tidal waters of the River Foyle. (A chain is 66 feet in length.) The person behind the project was John James Hamilton, the First Marquess of Abercorn, (it was only in 1868 that the Hamiltons were elevated to the rank of Dukedom). The canal was constructed between 1791 and 1796 at a cost of £11,858 towards which the Irish Parliament provided £3,703 by way of 4% debentures.

Construction was under the supervision of a John Whally of Coleraine although Richard Owen the engineer on the Lagan Navigation was consulted initially in relation to the course of the, "cut." Two locks were required and it was not until 1795 that these were completed. The canal was opened to public traffic on 21st March 1796 to much acclaim. The Strabane Journal reported that the first boat to pass through the canal was owned by a Mr Fleming and that, "ale and bonfires and illuminations and other demonstrations of joy closed the night." Both locks were over one hundred feet in length and could accommodate ocean going schooners of some 300 tons burden. The Abercorn estate charged a tonnage rate of two shillings per ton.

In 1820 the canal was leased to a group of individuals from Strabane and District and for a time the early success of the canal continued. In 1836 over 10,500 tons of merchandise was carried on the navigation. However in 1847 Strabane was connected to Ireland's burgeoning railway network when a standard gauge railway line was completed from Londonderry. This hearalded the move from waterway to railway as a mode of moving freight. On 1st July 1860 the company which had been operating the canal since 1820 went into liquidation. It was replaced by the Strabane Steam Navigation Company which continued to operate the canal until circa 1890 when it too went into liquidation. Its annual gross revenue had never exceeded £3000 with a net profit that never exceeded £300.

The next operator of the canal was the Strabane Canal Company Limited which was incorporated on 28th April 1890. It took a thirty one year lease from the Duke of Abercorn at an annual rent of £300. By this time the condition of the canal had begun to deteriorate. In 1900 the Donegal Railway Company opened its line from Strabane to Victoria Road Londonderry providing another route for transporting freight. In 1913 the second Duke of Abercorn sold the canal to Strabane & Foyle Navigation Limited subject to but with the benefit of the lease in favour of the Strabane Canal Company Limited. Under the auspices of the new owner and its controlling shareholder, (William Smyth), attempts were made to improve the draught of the navigation and a steam tug was acquired. By the 1930's the traffic on the canal had more or less ceased. The construction of the Craigavon Bridge at Londonderry, which unlike its two predecessors did not have an opening section to facilitate up river traffic may well have accelerated matters.

In December 1962 the section of canal from the Strabane Basin was officially closed. In recent years a 1.5 mile portion of the canal including the two locks was renovated with the benefit of a £1.3 m grant.

(For info on Strabane & Foyle Navigation Limited see http://northernscrivener.blogspot.com/2015/10/strabane-foyle-navigation-limited.html)

Sources: W. A. McCutcheon, "The Canals of the North of Ireland," - David & Charles 1965

 

Strabane & Foyle Navigation Limited

 

I recently came upon certain documents relating to a company by the name of Strabane & Foyle Navigation Limited, (Company number NI 00R697). It was only on the 25th May 1987 that this bit player in our industrial archaeology passed a Special Resolution to have itself wound up voluntarily. The Liquidator was Brian A McMullan, accountant of 28 Hawkin Street Londonderry. The statement of assets and liabilities attached to the Declaration of Solvency disclosed that the Company had the then not inconsiderable sum of £56,378 standing to its credit at its Bank. A loan or advance of £620 was the only other asset shown. It did however still own a substantial portion of the by then long since disused Strabane Canal and in November 1988 it sold same to a local farmer by the name of Joseph Edwards for £5000. Why there was no value attributed to this in the statement of assets and liabilities is difficult to know. Perhaps it was perceived as having a zero value. If so then the sum realised must have come as a pleasant surprise.

Strabane & Foyle Navigation Limited acquired the Strabane Canal on 4th March 1913 from James Albert Edward Hamilton the third Duke of Abercorn who by then was tenant for life under the terms of the Marriage Settlement of 6th January 1869 which had been entered into in anticipation of the marriage of the second Duke, (then Marquis of Hamilton) to Lady Mary Anna Curzon. The canal lands were one of the properties the subject of this settlement.

The Second Duke had on 2nd December 1912 contracted with one William B Smyth and others acting on behalf of Strabane & Foyle Navigation Limited, (being a Company then intended to be and subsequently incorporated) for the sale of the Canal in fee simple subject to but with the benefit of a lease dated 28th June 1891 whereby the Second Duke had demised the Canal to Strabane Canal Company Limited for a term of thirty one years from 1st November 1890. The Second Duke died on 3rd January 1913 without having completed the sale and accordingly it fell to the third Duke, along with the trustees of the Settlement to complete the transaction. The price paid was £2,000.