Dukart's Canal - History

History

Coal seams were discovered at Drumglass in the 1690s, and the Tyrone coalfields were seen as a way to reduce the amount of coal imported to Dublin, then amounting to between 60,000 and 70,000 tons per year. Thomas Knox, an owner of one of the collieries, petitioned the Irish Parliament in 1709, to advocate the cutting of a canal to enable the resource to be transported more easily. The canal would have followed a similar route to the later Newry Canal, but nothing came of the plan, although it was well received. The scheme was revived in 1727, and assessed by the Surveyor-General in 1729. Also in 1729, Francis Seymour, the owner of a coal pit at Brackaville, near Coalisland, published a pamphlet in Belfast, titled Remarks on a Scheme for supplying Dublin with Coals. The pamphlet expressed support for Knox's plans of 1709, but also suggested that a canal could be cut from Drumglass to the River Torrent, which would enable small boats to reach the River Blackwater, where the coal could be loaded into larger boats for transport to Newry, and onwards to Dublin.

The Commission of Inland Navigation for Ireland was created in the same year, and authorised the construction of the Newry Canal in 1731. A canal from Coalisland to the Blackwater was authorised the following year, but had the serious disadvantage that it stopped well short of the coalfields. Its construction was extremely slow, and the overland transport of coal to Coalisland increased its cost to customers. To address this situation, a company was created in 1749, prominent members of which included the Archbishops of Armagh and Tuam. They asked Parliament in 1753 for help with building 3 miles (4.8 km) of road, to link Drumglass to Coalisland, and received £4,000 to carry out the work.

It is unclear whether the road was ever completed. In 1760 a Parliamentary Committee asked Thomas Omer to carry out a survey for a canal between the collieries and the Newry Navigation. Although he carried out the survey, he suggested that a more practicable solution would be build a canal to Coalisland Basin. This would need to be just over 3 miles (4.8 km) long, would require 16 locks, and would cost £15,667. The bed of the River Torrent would be used where possible, and Omer began work in 1761. The Committee wanted the canal to be capable of carrying 100-ton ships. Omar passed the supervision of the project on to a British architectural engineer called Christopher Myers in June 1762, who completed around 0.5 miles (0.80 km) of the canal near Coalisland, and built part of the first lock. The waterway was 10 feet (3.0 m) deep, and the lock was 125 by 22 feet (38 by 6.7 m). He then reported to Parliament, outlining the likely cost based on the progress to that point, and concluded that it was impracticable to use the bed of the river. He suggested that a canal of the same gauge as the Newry Canal, capable of taking boats 60 by 12 feet (18 by 3.7 m) and drawing 3 feet (0.91 m), was a more realistic solution, and could be achieved for £18,141, which included the construction of 14 locks and an aqueduct over the River Torrent.