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The River Blackwater or Ulster Blackwater is a river mainly in
County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...
and County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It also forms part of the border between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, flowing between Counties Tyrone and Monaghan, intersecting into County Monaghan briefly. Its source is to the north of
Fivemiletown Fivemiletown is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is 16 miles (26 km) east of Enniskillen and 26 miles (43 km) west-south-west of Dungannon, on the A4 Enniskillen-to-Dungannon road. Fivemiletown's populat ...
, County Tyrone. The river divides County Armagh from County Tyrone and also divides County Tyrone from
County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ga, Contae Mhuineacháin) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Ulster and is part of Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Co ...
.


Route

The Blackwater's length is 91.3 km (56.75 mi). If the Blackwater's flow is measured through its path through the 30 km (19 mi) Lough Neagh and onwards to the sea via the 64.4 km (40ml)
Lower Bann The River Bann (from ga, An Bhanna, meaning "the goddess"; Ulster-Scots: ''Bann Wattèr'') is one of the longest rivers in Northern Ireland, its length, Upper and Lower Bann combined, being 129 km (80 mi). However, the total lengt ...
, the total length is 186.3 km (115.75 mi). This makes the Blackwater–Neagh–Bann the longest natural stream flow in Ulster and is longer than the
Munster Blackwater The Blackwater or Munster Blackwater ( ga, An Abhainn Mhór, The Great River) is a river which flows through counties Kerry, Cork, and Waterford in Ireland. It rises in the Mullaghareirk Mountains in County Kerry and then flows in an easterl ...
.


Names

The River Blackwater was originally known in Irish as ''Cluain-Dabhail'' meaning "meadow of Dabhal".Archive.org, ''Ulster Journal of Archaeology''
/ref> This was anglicised as Clanaul, the former name of the parish of Eglish, as well as Glenaul, which was used as the name of the former local
district electoral division An electoral division (ED, ) is a legally defined administrative area in the Republic of Ireland, generally comprising multiple townlands, and formerly a subdivision of urban and rural districts. Until 1996, EDs were known as district electora ...
of Armagh Union. It has also been known as ''An Abhainn Mhór'' (The Great River). Part of the rivers course forms the border between Counties Tyrone and Monaghan.


Inland navigation history

The inland waterways network of Ireland had developed in the later part of the eighteenth century, and in 1814, the Directors General of Inland Navigation were keen to join the various parts together. This required a link between Lough Neagh and
Lough Erne Lough Erne ( , ) is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is the second-biggest lake system in Northern Ireland and Ulster, and the fourth biggest in Ireland. The lakes are widened sections of the River Erne, ...
, and another between Lough Erne and the River Shannon. Accordingly, they asked John Killaly, their engineer, to look at the first of these routes, "in general terms". Although the Directors did not proceed immediately, due to lack of funds, the scheme was revived in 1822 and the canal was eventually completed in 1841. Below the first lock at Charlemont, the canal joined the river, and used the river channel to reach Lough Neagh. The venture was not a success, as significant volumes of traffic failed to develop, and the canal was taken over by the Board of Works in 1851. Meanwhile, The Office of Public Works (The O.P.W., often known as 'the Board of Works') had obtained powers in 1842 to carry out various projects around the Lough Neagh basin, with the intent of improving drainage, navigation and mill-power. Following a survey by their engineer, John McMahon, a scheme was developed to make the
Lower Bann The River Bann (from ga, An Bhanna, meaning "the goddess"; Ulster-Scots: ''Bann Wattèr'') is one of the longest rivers in Northern Ireland, its length, Upper and Lower Bann combined, being 129 km (80 mi). However, the total lengt ...
navigable from Lough Neagh to the sea. This involved removing a great shoal of rock at Portna which had the effect of lowering the level of Lough Neagh by around . This had a significant effect on the Blackwater, and major work was required on the river to keep it navigable. The Maghery Cut, which gave access to Lough Neagh to the south of Derrywarragh Island, had to be made deeper and wider, and the channel of the river was dredged, to maintain a navigable depth. The final lock on the Coalisland Canal and the Ulster Canal had to be reconstructed with a lower sill and deeper gates, to accommodate the lower level of the river, as did the final lock on the
Newry Canal The Newry Canal, located in Northern Ireland, was built to link the Tyrone coalfields (via Lough Neagh and the River Bann) to the Irish Sea at Carlingford Lough near Newry. It was the first summit level canal to be built in Ireland or Great Brit ...
where it joined the Upper Bann. The total cost of the project, split between navigation and drainage work, was estimated at £183,775. The cost of work on the Blackwater exceeded that on any of the other inflows to Lough Neagh. While the first of the river above the lough was large and wide, considerable work was needed between there and Blackwatertown to eradicate sharp bends and shoals. New sections of river channel were cut, and were made between wide, with their depth sufficient to provide of water when Lough Neagh was at it lowest designed level during the summer months. Excavated material was used to backfill the old river channels, so that loss of land was reduced. To protect the surrounding low-lying land from flooding by the river, the channel was embanked. The embankments were designed with self-acting sluices, to allow watercourses to pass through them when water levels were suitable. After some of the embankments had been finished, local landowners petitioned against their completion, as they felt that the lower level of Lough Neagh and the works already carried out gave them sufficient protection, and it was inadvisable to completely protect the land. The work on defences was thus deferred. The original plans were to embank the Tall River and the
Callan River The Callan River is a river in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Rising near Tullnawood lake, it flows in a generally northerly direction, past Darkley, passing within a few miles of Keady town, through Tassagh and on to Armagh. It joins the R ...
, which joined to the south of Clonmain and flowed into the Blackwater below Charlemont bridge. This aspect of the project was reworked, and a new straight cut was made from a point on the Tall River to the north of Clonmain, crossing Sir William Verner's bog, and rejoining the Blackwater just above Verner's Bridge, some below the original confluence. This had the advantage that under flood conditions, the water level in the Blackwater was from lower than that further upstream. The channel below Verner's Bridge was also considerably wider, and so could better cope with the volumes of water discharged by the two tributaries. The project took eleven years to complete, by which time costs had overrun by £50,000. The government were approached to make up the shortfall, and did so. When the scheme began, there was to be a single controlling authority to maintain the works, with the more profitable Lower Bann helping to fund the less profitable Blackwater and Upper Bann. However, by the time it was completed, three separate and independent trusts were set up. The Upper Bann and the Blackwater were managed by the Upper Bann Navigation Trust. The counties to the south of Lough Neagh were expected to fund their part of the drainage and navigation works, and to contribute £800 per year towards the running of the Trust, with no income to meet this figure. The Lower Bann Navigation Trust and the Lough Neagh Drainage Trust were wound up in 1929, with their responsibilities passing to the Ministry of Finance, but despite vigorous campaigning by the counties supporting the Upper Bann Navigation Trust, the government refused to disband it, and it continued to be funded until 1954, when the Ministry of Commerce took over the waterways and effectively closed them.


See also

* List of rivers of Northern Ireland


Bibliography

* * *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwater Rivers of County Armagh Rivers of County Tyrone International rivers of Europe Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border