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Canalways Ireland
Canalways Ireland - Barrow Navigation

 

  
The River Barrow Navigation... Ireland's oldest navigation and best kept secret.  
 

This waterway links the city of Waterford to Dublin the Capital. Work on the Barrow  Navigation started in 1761 at St. Mullins, below which the river is tidal. 
It involved the construction of a series of canal cuts and weirs to control the natural fall of the water and  provide sufficient depth for boats.  

A towpath was cleared for horses towing the boats. In 1791 the Barrow Line was completed connecting Athy to Robertstown on the Grand Canal Main Line, thus providing a major navigation system through the heart of Ireland..  

 

 The Barrow River Navigation offers you 70 miles (120km) of river and canal cruising with 32 locks. You will need to read your charts carefully as there are very few markers ....It is a real boating adventure.

 

 

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This sculpture was the work of Edward Smyth for James's Gandon's Custom House Building in Dublin and considered by many to be Ireland's greatest architectural masterpiece of the 18th century. It is one of fourteen carvings on the keystones of  the main doorways and windows, representing 13 of the most important rivers in Ireland and the Atlantic ocean. 
The Barrow riverhead is sullen. The beard features many fish. The rive rises in the Midlands of Ireland. It flows through Portarlington in County Laois, Monastervin and Athy in County Kildare, Carlow and Bagnalstown in County Carlow passing Gorresbridge, Borris and Graignamanagh in County Kilkenny, before becoming tidal at St.Mullins in County Wexford.
Riverine Heads