Grand Canal

TRAMS AT HIGHER THAN EXPECTED FREQUENCY

December 14, 2023 by infomatique

THE DRIMNAGH STOP

Towards the end of last year it was reported that Dublin Bus, Go-Ahead and the Luas Tram operator had been fined a total of €5m by Ireland’s National Transport Authority for late and cancelled journeys. My experience of Go-Ahead is limited to the 17 bus service which has been discontinued recently as the bus routes have been reorganised. I had to visit an old relative twice every week and she was located on Roebuck Road. I travelled there by getting the Tram to Windy Arbour and then the 17 to the Fosters Avenue end of Roebuck Road. However, the 17 service was so unreliable that I often gave up and walked to/from the tram stop. There was supposed to be a bus every twenty minutes but I frequently had to wait for close to sixty minutes (especially on Saturdays).

Towards the end of 2022 the Luas service received a penalty of €2.67m for the number of journeys not operated or which didn’t run to time. However, I have not found the tram service to be unreliable but I have noticed that many trams are too crowded for my liking and it is getting worse especially on the Red Line.

Today I decided to visit the Golden Bridge cemetery I was really surprised to discover that the tram was packed and it was only 2PM. When I got to the Drimnagh stop I was surprised by the frequency of the trams as there was one about every minute. It should be mentioned that if you wish to visit the Goldenbridge Cemetery you should get off the tram at the Drimnagh Stop rather than the Goldenbridge Stop.

LOCKS RESTAURANT ON THE NORTH BANK OF THE GRAND CANAL

July 6, 2023 by infomatique

THIS IS PORTOBELLO ROAD

Locks Restaurant was a former sweetshop and in revolutionary times its basement window provided a great vantage point for spying across the canal at the former British Army barracks, Portobello Barracks. It opened in 1815 and became the National Army’s headquarters under General Michael Collins during the Civil War. In 1952 it was renamed Cathal Brugha Barracks, in honour of one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising.

I COUNTED MORE THAN 80 TREES

June 5, 2023 by infomatique

MY JUNE HOLIDAY WEEKEND WALK ALONG PARNELL ROAD

I cannot determine if this road along the canal is in Crumlin or in Harold’s Cross but I suppose that one section in Harold’s Cross while the other is not.

Parnell Bridge listed as being in Crumlin D12] is described as a traditionally constructed bridge in well cut locally-sourced stone resulting in an appealing textured visual effect. It was widened in the twentieth century, resulting in a recently constructed west elevation and soffit to the eastern half. Nonetheless, it retains much of its original character, and it is one of a simple yet distinctive style of bridge found the length of the canal. Named after John Parnell, great-great-grandfather of Charles Stewart Parnell, a director of the Grand Canal Company, it is popularly known as Sally’s Bridge. The Grand Canal and the Royal Canal encircle Dublin city centre and provides a waterway connection between Dublin’s River Liffey and the River Shannon. Construction of the canal began in 1757 and was completed in 1797.

PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE ACROSS THE GRAND CANAL

March 31, 2023 by infomatique

DRIMNAGH TRAM STOP

Drimnagh was farmland until the mid-1930s, when some of the first tenement clearances brought city centre residents from one-room hovels to terraced and semi-detached houses in a series of roads named after the mountain ranges of Ireland. The suburb consists of one area close to Drimnagh Castle and Lansdowne Valley, with three-bedroom private housing built by Associated Properties, and another area (the larger part) built by Dublin Corporation and consisting of three-bedroom ‘Kitchen Houses’ and two-bedroom ‘Parlour Houses’ bordering the Grand Canal and Crumlin. The two areas meet at the parish church, the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, in the centre of Drimnagh, built in 1943.

The Dublin Corporation housing area was originally considered part of an area known as North Crumlin from its construction in the mid-1930s until the introduction of the postal code system during the mid-1970s.

WHAT HAD BEEN DUMPED INTO THE GRAND CANAL

March 31, 2023 by infomatique

NOW ON VIEW UNDER FOOTBRIDGE

There are volunteer groups who clean up sections of the canals in Dublin on a regular basis and what you see in my photographs is typical of what is dumped into the waters of the canals.