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 Gasworks.

Strabane's municipal gasworks were established on a site extending to some three acres and three roods situate between what was originally called Port Street, (now Port Road) and the Strabane Canal. As with most of the land in the environs of the town the site belonged to the Abercorns. On 10th May 1904 The Urban District Council of Strabane took a two hundred and fifty year lease of the lands at an annual rental of ten pounds. The term of years ran from 1st November 1903 and the UDC covenanted to construct by 31st October 1905 "such gasworks and other buildings as are contemplated ..... by the Strabane Gas Order 1902."

It appears that the establishment of the Strabane Gasworks was very much dependant upon the Treasury giving a loan of £15,000 to Strabane UDC. On the 11th February 1904 Mr. Hemphill, MP for Tyrone North queried the First Lord of the Treasury, (Austen Chamberlain), about the delay in providing the loan. Chamberlain's response makes clear that the figures presented to the Treasury cast a question mark over the viability of the venture. Clearly however the funds were made available by the Treasury - ultimately.

This was not Strabane's first gasworks. There was apparently a gasworks some 400m South of the Park Street locus. On 20th May 1854 a Mr George Mearns who was described as the manager of the Strabane Gasworks married a Susan Arbuckke at 2nd Presbyterian Church, Strabane.

The Port Road Gasworks ultimately closed down on 9th August 1986. Some two years later the freehold reversion in the site was acquired from the Abercorn Estate by Strabane District Council, (successor to Strabane UDC).

 

 

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.

 

 

Grosvenor Shirts

When reading  the Daily Telegraph magazine at the weekend I was pleased to see the name of one of our few remaining shirt factories appearing on the "Men's notebook" page.

Grosvenor Shirts was established in 1999 and operates out of a portion of what was for many years the premises of H G Porter Limited at 9 Derry Road, Strabane. David Nicholls of the aforesaid magazine appears to be particularly taken with their silk ties although I would view that their strength lies with their shirts of which I am the proud possessor of two. I also have one of their rather smart waistcoats which I purchased at the suggestion of their Mr Karl Dunkley.