McKenney Bridge Lock

Single canal lock on Grand Canal, constructed c. 1790, to west side of McKenny Bridge. Dressed limestone chamber walls with dressed coping, having rebates for lock gates at north end. Mooring posts to each side of chamber. Replacement timber and mild steel lock gates, timber balance beams. Mooring area to west side of lock.

A well-built canal lock. The lock chamber exhibits good-quality stone masonry and, to the south, the canal expands in width to provide a mooring place for boats waiting to use the lock. It forms part of a small of group of related structures, that includes the nearby bridge. Construction of the canal began in the second half of the eighteenth century to provide freight and passenger transport between the Liffey and Shannon rivers.