canal (section of)

Canal, built c.1757, later is use as mill race c.1850. Now out of use and partially infilled to south. Runs from north to south on west side of town.

This 2.5 km long canal was built by the Commissioners of Inland Navigation to bypass river shallows and open up the Shannon to trade and enterprise. These works marked the first attempts to make the River Shannon fully navigable at Athlone. This canal later belonged to the Grand Canal Company in 1804-10 but fell out of use following the completion of the Shannon Navigation works in the 1840s. It was used as a mil race by a corn mill, known as the Lock Mills, in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Athlone Canal originally cost £30,000 and was reputedly built by Thomas Omer, a noted Dutch canal engineer who also worked on the Grand Canal (Main Line) and The Lagan Navigation near Belfast. It remains an important and significant part of the history of Athlone and in the development of inland waterways in Ireland.