Royal Canal

The Royal Canal (Irish: An Chanáil Ríoga ) is a canal system in Ireland. The Royal Canal is about 146 km long, has 47 locks and runs from Dublin to the River Shannon, on which he meets north of Lough Ree.

History

The Royal Canal was built along with the southerly Grand Canal end of the 18th century as a transport in an oval around Dublin. Construction began in 1792. 1817 passed the first cargo ship channel to the total distance. In addition to the main channel, several branch canals were built to different cities. The development of the railroad in 1852 and later also of the road network leading to the loss of importance of the channel. The Great Southern Railways bought the canal in the 1920s and left him consistently expire. 1961, the channel for commercial shipping has been closed. After that fell apart, the channel and was also used as a rubbish dump. There were plans, the Royal Canal and the Grand Canal would fill in and build an urban motorway it. A citizens' initiative, founded in 1974, it is thanks to them that these plans could be prevented. In 1986 the canal was handed over to the State Waterways Ireland society, which put him back in state and managed ever since.

Tourist use

The channel now has no industrial economic importance. Tourist but he is now used for houseboat cruises. The long distance footpath Royal Canal Way leads to the magnificent restored towpath along the shore to Mullingar. However, the path through Dublin performs run-down areas. The canal leading directly at Croke Park, the largest sports stadium in Ireland, over.