CANALS. 115 



to Ballinasloe, with branches to the Liffey, Robertstown, Blackwood Reser- 

 voir, Monasterevan, St. James's Well, Athy, Mountmellick, Edenderry, and 

 Kilbeggan. The summit level, 279 feet above sea-level, and 164 feet above 

 the Shannon at Shannon Harbour, is near Robertstown, about 25 miles 

 from Dublin. The Grand Canal was commenced by the Commissioners of 

 Inland Navigation, who received grants of public money, between 1753 and 

 1772, to the amount of ;^70,496. In the latter year the completion of the 

 canal was transferred to a company. Between 1772 and 1800 the company 

 received grants to the extent of ;^83,776, in addition to ;^i 8,231 to secure 

 the completion of the Ringsend Docks. In 1798 the company obtained a 

 loan of i^2 7,692 of public money on the opening of the Athy branch of the 

 canal, and a further grant of iT 13 8,46 1 was made as recommended by 

 Government and approved of by a Committee of the House of Commons 

 in 1 81 3, on the terms that the Company should raise £4.6,1^4, to be apphecl, 

 along with the ;^ 13 8,461, in payment of their debts. The extension of the 

 canal from the Shannon to Ballinasloe and the Mountmellick and Kilbeggan 

 branches were subsequently made for the purpose of giving employment to 

 the poor, and ;!f98,524 was advanced to facilitate their execution. The ex- 

 tensions were opened in 1830. In 1844 the repayment of this sum was com- 

 muted by statute for ;^ 10,000. By an Act of 1848 the original company, 

 called " the Undertakers of the Grand Canal," was reconstituted under the 

 name of the " Grand Canal Company." The passenger traffic on the canal 

 ceased on the opening of the railway system, but the Company received a 

 remission of its debt to the Government to the extent of £"88,524. The 

 total capital expenditure on the canal is put down at ;£^ 1,13 7,680, out of 

 which public grants amounted to ;^32i,674. The profile of the Grand Canal 

 at the Dublin terminus is wanting in boldness, ascending by a gradual flight 

 of 19 locks to a level of 211 feet above the sea at low water in 9 miles. 

 Near Robertstown, in the county Kildare, about 25 miles from Dublin, it 

 attains the summit level of 278 feet, and thence the southward branch to the 

 Barrow bifurcates. The Shannon line skirting the Bog of Allen continues 

 for 25 ^< miles at the same level, only interrupted by one lock, having a lift 

 of 9 feet, past Philipstown towards Tullamore. Then passing again through 

 portions of the Bog of Allen it reaches the River Shannon at Shannon 

 Harbour, 82 miles from the River Liffey, where is an extensive establish- 

 ment of the Company, consisting of a large range of stores and a hotel. 

 This place, together with Tullamore, were once the centres of great activity, 

 both in the transmission of grain, etc., to Dublin from the counties of Gal- 

 way and Tipperary, and as chief stations for the passenger boats, which 

 were for many years the chief and favourite means of communication 

 between the central parts of Ireland and the metropoHs before the introduc- 

 tion of well-appointed stage coaches about 1810, when the service was 

 reduced to six boats daily. The rate of 8 miles an hour, including delays 

 at locks, was attained by narrow fly boats, which, drawn by four horses at 

 a gallop, plied only by day. A slower passenger and parcel boat travelled 

 mght and day at a moderate rate of speed, and the Company maintamed 

 five hotels for the accommodation of the travellers. After the introduction 

 of steamboats, the passenger service was extended to Limerick. At 

 Shannon Harbour the trade boats of the Company tranship into steamers 

 which ply northwards to Athlone through Lough Ree to Carrick-on- 

 .Shannon, and southwards by Banagher and Portumna through Lough Derg 

 to Killaloe, and thence by the Limerick Canal to Limerick. 



