Quite often you will meet people from Naas who, when seeing boats on the canal just below the town will remark ‘I have lived here all my life and I have never seen a boat.’ Well IWAI Kildare is changing that phenomenon through the Naas Canal Festival.
IWAI Kildare has over the years established regular boat rallies to Naas. Beginning in October 2009 the Naas Canal Festival has become an annual end of season event for IWAI Kildare. The event has enjoyed great support from Naas Town Council, Naas Historical Society, Kildare Youth Services (KYS), local businesses and community. IWAI Kildare has also received great support from the Heritage Boat Association (HBA), many of whom attended the festival in October 2009 to mark 220 years of navigation on the Naas Canal.
The Naas Canal has quite a story to tell. Here it is in summary.
The Naas Canal, a branch of the Grand Canal, was constructed by an independent company in 1786, with pick and shovel. Goods were carried on barges from Naas Harbour through Sallins and onto Dublin. The canal was extended as far as Corbally Harbour, a further 8km from Naas, where the water source is located. Ownership of the Naas Branch soon transferred to the Grand Canal Company and later to CIE, but even so, trading along this portion of the canal was limited. Trading ceased altogether on the Grand Canal in 1959 and the canal gradually became derelict.
In 1977, IWAI Dublin began work to restore the Naas Canal. Regular campaigning at Boat Rallies over the following years pushed for restoration. Much of this restoration work took place during the tenure of the OPW. In 1984, IWAI Kildare was formed and in 1987, the Naas Canal was officially reopened. Leinster Leader It was 2002 when Naas Harbour was finally reopened. However, the Herbertstown/Corbally Canal has remained closed to navigation because of the obstruction and culvert under the R445, the Newbridge Road.
So why is Naas such an attractive destination for boat owners?
IWAI Kildare has renewed its focus on Naas for a number of reasons.
The five locks on the Naas Canal brings you to the highest point on the canal system and the confluence with the Corbally Canal. This in itself is an enjoyable challenge to boat owners. These locks must continue to be used to preserve them and to do justice to the efforts of past IWAI Members and the authorities who worked to restore the Naas Canal in the 1980s.
Naas Harbour is a real gem of Kildare’s county town. It boasts safe mooring in the shadow of the restored Canal Stores and is located only a short distance from all that Naas has to offer. The appearance of boats in Naas on a regular basis highlights the amenity potential of the linear park from Sallins to Naas.
Holding the annual canal festival in Naas Harbour, focuses on the positive contribution that boat tourism makes to the local economy in Naas and its environs. The Naas Canal is hugely popular with walkers and cyclists and the boats bring added colour and life to the area.
The campaign to reopen the Herbertstown/Corbally Canal continues.
During the Naas Canal Festival, members of IWAI Kildare take visitors along the Corbally Canal as far as the culvert at the R445.
IWAI Kildare is seeking support for the redesign of the watercourse under the road to allow navigation once again. This action will take place in the context of other road developments proposed for this area, to minimise the cost to Kildare Co Co. IWAI Kildare has been working with Waterways Ireland, the navigation authority to progress the campaign for restoration of the Corbally Canal and the extension of the linear Park to Corbally Harbour in Herbertstown.
It is the hope of IWAI Kildare that in time a fully restored Corbally Canal and Harbour will extend the areas where people can safely walk, run, cycle and teach children to appreciate and use waterways with kayaking and canoeing.
A Kelly 2014
The Naas and Corbally Canal Ecological Assessment was published by Waterways Ireland in 2016