Ireland

Sunset at Rossmore Quay on the Galway shore of Lough Derg. Jefferson surveys the barge that had brought us to this quiet place for the night.

Old and new peat fired power stations of the Irish Electricity Supply Board at Shannonbridge. The old plant on the left was closed after an accident in February 2004 when a high-pressure pipe at the plant exploded. The plant was already to be decommissioned as part of the planned closure of all six peat-fuelled stations in the country at that time. Subsequently the new 150 megawatt West Offaly station at the front has been constructed and this is supplied with around 1 million tons of peat annually by Bord na Mona. The old station was demolished in 2008/09.

Tegral Building Products Ltd. has been based at Athy since it was founded in 1936. The works alongside the Barrow Line of the Grand Canal is well known for the range of artificial slates that are manufactured there. The company also specialises in cladding and flooring materials as well as a range of roofing sheets and tiles.

Old and new peat fired power stations of the Irish Electricity Supply Board at Shannonbridge on the River Shannon. The old Shannonbridge plant at the right was closed after an accident in February 2004 when a high-pressure pipe at the plant exploded. The plant was already to be decommissioned as part of the planned closure of all six peat-fuelled stations in the country at that time. Subsequently the new 150 megawatt West Offaly station at the front has been constructed and this is supplied with around 1 million tons of peat annually by Bord na Mona. The old station was demolished shortly after the view was taken.

Jefferson and Niamh take a keen interest as the barge rises in a lock on the Shannon Erne Waterway.

Standing on the corner of Royal Parade and North Street in the centre of Belfast the former Bank of Ireland Building is one of the finest Modernist buildings in Ireland. It was was constructed during 1929 and 1930 to designs by Joseph Vincent Downes. The exterior is Portland limestone and the building is listed grade B+ which is the equivalent of II* on the British mainland.

Steelile, on a building at Keshcarrigan, Leitrim. The Irish Steel Company Ltd was based at Haulbowline, Cork and traded from 1939 to 2001. Steelile was registered as a trademark by the company in 1960.

This is another example of the type of holiday homes that were once common in Britain and Ireland. Here at Dromineer on the shore of Lough Derg there are several decaying homes that are not likely to survive much longer.

The Shannon hydro-electric scheme was constructed between 1925 and 1929 to harness the power of the river where it underwent a fall of nearly 35 metres in the final stages of its route to tidal waters at Limerick. The civil engineering works were undertaken by the German company Siemens-Schuckertwerke and on completion the power station at Ardnacrusha was the largest hydro-electric generating plant in the world. Initially there were three vertical shaft Francis turbine generators installed and in 1934 a single vertical shaft Kalan turbine generator was added, giving a total output of 85mw from an average head of 28.5 metres.

Corrugated iron maker's mark in the roof of a derelict holiday home at Dromineer in the Irish Republic Galvanised iron with the Redcliffe brand stamp has been manufactured since mid-1874 by a partnership between William Bomford Wright and Joseph Tinn, trading under the name W.B. Wright & Co., Chapel Street, St. Philip’s, Bristol. The trademarks and goodwill associated with the Redcliffe Crown Galvanised Iron Works were acquired by John Lysaght Ltd on 21 May 1895 for £990. In 1920 Lysaght sold its British interests to Guest Keen and Nettlefolds (GKN). While the brands ‘Queen’s Head,’ ‘Fleur-de-Lis’ and ‘Orb’ were continued from previous times, the Redcliffe Crown brand seems to have been discontinued at that time. Information from: Redcliffe Crown Corrugated Iron in Australasia, Its History, Marketing and Distribution 1875-1921 - Dirk HR Spennemann

The 999grt bulk cargo ship Matrisha was launched in Japan in 1976 and, after a number of name and ownership changes, was wrecked after running aground on the south coast of Ireland. After salvage the hulk was towed to this remote quay on the Shannon estuary where it was used to store cement for a number of years. It was lying quietly rusting and awaiting its fate. The ship was finally cut up and scrapped in 2011.

This is the base of one of the two early gasholders at Carrickfergus gasworks. The brick lined tank only needs water around the sides of the metal holder and therefore some of the space inside is filled with a brick cone often referred to as a dumpling.

The three remaining Irish peat fired power stations are to be closed in December 2019. This is the old West Offaly power station at Shannonbridge. It was out of use when this photo was taken in 2008, having been replaced by the new station seen at the centre right edge. The old station was demolished during the following year.

Old and new peat fired power stations of the Irish Electricity Supply Board at Shannonbridge. The old plant on the left was closed after an accident in February 2004 when a high-pressure pipe at the plant exploded. The plant was already to be decommissioned as part of the planned closure of all six peat-fuelled stations in the country at that time. Subsequently the new 150 megawatt West Offaly station at the front has been constructed and this is supplied with around 1 million tons of peat annually by Bord na Mona. The old station was demolished in 2008/09 and the new station has until the end of 2020 before shutdown having just been reprieved for a year.

Corrugated iron boathouse at Williamstown Harbour on the western shore of Lough Derg, County Clare.

Situated at Ringsend in Dublin the Poolbeg power station, colloquially known as The Poolbeg Stacks, is a power station owned and operated by the Electricity Supply Board of Ireland (ESB). There are two stations on the site, the older thermal station containing units 1, 2, and 3 and the combined cycle gas station containing units CG14, CG15 and ST16, which is located toward the eastern end of the site. The six units had a total installed capacity of 1020 MW. The thermal station, fired by either oil or gas, was closed in 2010 which reduced capacity by 461 MW. The landmark chimneys were listed as protected structures in 2014.

The water tower at Athlone is a landmark that boaters use whilst navigating southward across Lough Ree on the Shannon.

'The White Bridge' in Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland, was built in the mid 19th century and spans a total of 542ft - with an opening span of 120ft to accommodate large sailing vessels - was designed by G.W. Hemans and built in 1850. It was the single greatest engineering task during the construction of the Dublin to Galway railway line and took less than 18 months to construct. Built with twelve cylindrical pillars - each 10ft in diameter - they were placed in position by compressed air which made engineering history at the time. Messrs. Fox & Henderson were the contractors who shipped the massive ironworks via barge from Limerick to Athlone. It is listed in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. The first commercial train crossed 'The White Bridge' Athlone on Monday 21st July, 1851. The swinging span was permanently fixed in 1972.