ROYAL CANAL TODAY I USED MY NEW SONY A7RIV

THE ROYAL CANAL BETWEEN CROSS GUNNS BRIDGE AND THE SECOND LOCK AT BINNS BRIDGE DORSET STREET [SONY A7RIV]


I is almost a month since I took any photographs but after giving the matter a lot of consideration I went ahead and purchased a Sony a7RIV. As I got the new camera this afternoon and as the weather was very good I decided to walk around the area capturing images at random and for the first time I used silent shutter. There is no doubting the fact that this cameras feels much better than the MK3 but I am not fully convinced that it is worth upgrading but I had no real choice as I damaged my MK3 when I had a bad fall in Belfast earlier in the year.

The Lock System at Dorset Street forms part of a group of three double canal locks (2nd Lock, 3rd Lock and 4th Lock) located between Binns Bridge at the southeast and Westmoreland Bridge at the northwest. Construction of the Royal Canal began in the late eighteenth century to provide freight and passenger transport between the Dublin and the River Shannon. The chambers exhibit good quality stone masonry with fine joints. The well-built double locks have attractive sloping edges to cope with the change in height between the lower, middle and upper levels. On either side of the lock, the canal expands in width to provide a mooring place for waiting boats. The 2nd Lock is complemented by the nearby Binns Bridge to the east.


Binns Bridge is a single-arch bridge, erected c.1795, carrying road over Royal Canal. Rubble limestone parapet wall with dressed limestone string course, dressed granite copings and carved oval limestone plaque. Elliptical arch, springing from side walls of canal, with moulded granite voussoirs and vermiculated granite keystone. Water and gas pipes to east and west elevations. Abutting north side of bridge is double-arch stone rail bridge of c.1864. Snecked limestone wing walls with dressed granite copings.

Cross Gunns bridge and the adjacent lock were named for the Earl of Westmoreland, who laid the first stone at this site in 1790. The present bridge structure appears to be a rebuild, probably about 1864, when the adjacent railway line and bridge were constructed, in order to provide a level road surface across railway and canal. The quality of the ashlar stonework is high and the cast-iron parapets, by Ross & Walpole Ltd Engineers Dublin, and the light standards, add decorative interest. The setting of the lock is enhanced by the presence of a significant group of industrial structures nearby, including Westmoreland (now 5th) lock, the adjacent canal and railway bridge, the former North City Flour mills and a former railway siding. The Royal Canal Company was established in 1789 to construct a canal to provide freight and passenger transport between Dublin and the River Shannon.