Mulvany and the Ballinamore and Ballyconnell Canal
Jonathan Smyth's latest Times Past historical column recalls W.T. Mulvany and the Ballinamore to Ballyconnell Canal...
The Shannon-Erne Waterway is one of the most important water systems in Ireland, consisting of ‘63 km of river, and still water canal’ and links practically every inland waterway in the country.
Northwards, the section of canal connecting Ballyconnell and Ballinamore, known as the Ballinamore and Ballyconnell canal, and intended to be a significant development for the region’s navigational routes was built under the drainage acts of the 1840s.
Patrick Flanagan in his excellent book ‘The Ballinamore and Ballyconnell Canal’, sadly observed that ‘hopes were dashed and the canal, which took 30 years to build at a cost of nearly quarter of a million pounds was used by few more than a dozen boats!’
It must have been a deflating defeat for all involved in a scheme with noble intentions. There is much to learn when the sod of history is dug.
Recently, I spoke with Tony Connolly, a well-known local historian in Ballyconnell who has a vast knowledge of the town and the canal’s history. It was through him that I learned more about William Thomas Mulvany, a civil engineer who from the outset of the scheme was employed to investigate the viability of creating an Erne and Shannon link up. But there was so much more to Mulvany than I expected; an outstanding character, later credited with the creation of Germany’s all important coal industry in the Ruhr Valley.
The development of a Shannon-Erne waterway was considered in earnest in 1834 when a House of Commons select committee began discussions. When they had suitably discussed and digested the proposals, it was then time for action, and they passed the first canal navigation act in 1835.
Commissioners were appointed and plans put forward to the betterment of the Shannon as a travel route for commercial boats. A further act was passed in 1839 and matters took on a suitably serious complexion with works arranged to be carried out by the commissioners at an estimated £584,806.
The Shannon commissioners handled developments until 1846 and then the board of works were assigned to take over but there was a delay, and it was not until 1852 that the board of works took full control.
In investigating the opening of a link ‘between the Shannon, Drumsna, and the Erne at Belturbet,’ or ‘the point near Wattle Bridge,’ where the Ulster Canal would ‘open to the River Erne,’ Patrick Flanagan, speaks of the role played by William Mulvany. Flanagan recalls that Mulvany, a civil engineer in the ‘employ of the commission,’ was then ‘instructed’ to draw up a report on the feasibility of creating such a link and to investigate the lay of the land from Drumsna to Belturbet to see what obstacles or otherwise might present themselves.
Mulvany, who completed his findings in March 1839, had observed that there were numerous hills whilst seeking a ‘suitable summit level’ for the canal between Leitrim and Longford. Mulvany noted, ‘I think that viewing the subject generally no doubt can be entertained of its remunerative nature, and especially when it is considered as the means of connecting nearly all the inland navigation of Ireland.’
Regarding the Cavan end of his report, Mulvany suggested two possible routes, firstly, by bringing the canal from Ballinamore to Killeshandra from where they could follow the river leading to Belturbet, or secondly, by constructing a ‘direct line’ of canal that stretched four miles, they could hence ‘reduce’ river travel by one mile. He was in favour of either plan which would achieve the desired outcome.
This was an age prior to railway mania, and Mulvany foresaw no threat to the coming canals which he believed would carry a quantity of traffic on towards and through the Ulster Canal.
Mulvany’s enthusiastic proposal for the canal was placed on ice until 1842.
Cost overrun
The work of constructing the Ballinamore to Ballyconnell Canal began in 1846. Waterways Ireland tell us that: ‘Between Leitrim Village and just north of Belturbet, the Shannon-Erne waterway links the two great waterways on the island.’
However, the venture to link Ballinamore to Ballyconnell was very expensive and the overrun in costs was blamed unfairly on Mulvany, who to save funds had decided to dig to a depth of 4.5 feet only, instead of the preferred 6 feet for a canal to carry water. The canal to Ballyconnell opened from around 1858 and each county through which it flowed were asked to pay £30,000 towards the venture.
Unfortunately, traffic was slower than a snail heading to Jerusalem. Having spent hundreds of thousands of pounds, it was disastrous for the company; the canal traffic between 1860 and 1869 boasted an abysmal total traffic of eight boats and an intake of £18 in toll charges. It was a hard pill to swallow having cost so much.
Pioneering German Coal Prophets are rarely accepted in their home territory and the canal was not Mulvany’s finest hour, and yet the recent revival of canals as a tourist attraction and their ongoing repair perhaps restores a certain honour to his accomplishment and vision.
German mines
At this point, it may be of interest to elaborate a little further on Mulvany and why he is celebrated in a European context today. He was born on 11th March 1806 in Sandymount, Dublin. Having been involved in the Irish waterways, he then formed the Hibernian Mining Company in 1854 and entered coal mining. He became the owner of several mines in Germany and pioneered the industry in the Ruhr Valley.
In 1963, Klaus Ditman, the Director of Education of the Federal German Association of Chambers of Commerce gave an address in honour of William T Mulvany at the Shelbourne Hotel. Mulvany’s company, he said, had purchased several mines and founded the famous German-based ‘Erin and Shamrock Mines.’
During the 1960s, the Hibernian Company was producing 10 million tons of coal, the Shamrock 1,300,000, and the Erin 1,200,000 tons, wrote James Molloy in the Sunday Independent, in February 1992.
Mulvany who died in 1885 had employed Irish workers, and a group of hardworking miners from Durham to work the coal mines. Dr Ditman pointed out that Mulvany was a ‘constructive entrepreneur’ who became ‘one of the first to use the Tubbing process for the sinking of coalmine shafts’.
William T Mulvany’s family subsequently all moved to live with him in Dusseldorf. Coalmining was probably a natural progression for an engineer who had cut his teeth on devising Irish canals.
For more on this topic, I recommend the book, ‘Breaking Ground: The Story of William T. Mulvany,’ by John J. O’Sullivan
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