*** To find the cache location: When on the
western (Cong)side of the bridge, climb over the wall where the
speed limit and the "B&B" signs are - and walk down the bank
towards the canal. ***
Millions died as a result of the great famine in
Ireland, and over 2.5 million people became refugees and left the
island to seek new lives abroad. This horror occurred between over
the space of only five years. Poverty is never a natural disaster.
Impoverishment was the cause. Poverty for the many was, as always a
byproduct of wealth for the few. But the catalyst was natural.
An Gorta Mór (Irish Gaelic= 'The Great
Hunger'), began in September 1845, when the potato crop was
affected by blight, a fungus causing the plant to rot, becoming
soft and inedible. Ireland’s poor depended upon the potato for
survival. For over three million people it was the only food. When
blight damaged almost half the crop in 1845, these people faced a
winter of partial famine, something not new to their experience.
However, almost continual rain until March 1846 provided ideal
conditions for the spread of the disease.
In 1846 there was total crop failure and total famine. In 1847 the
blight was less severe, but the effect of the famine had
multiplied. Also, few new crops had been planted.
Two-thirds of the inhabitants of Connaught were affected.
Throughout the whole island, over 130,000 families were trying to
survive on less than one acre. This massive section of the
population and the families who were even poorer grew grain to pay
their rent. As long as they could sell their grain, they could pay
their rent and avoid eviction by the Landlord. Animals were also
kept for this purpose.
Most of the grain was exported to England to feed the working
classes there. On their worst land, the Irish grew potatoes. The
English magazine of questionable wit, Punch, described the Irish
Paupers as 'The blight of their own land, and the curse of the
Saxon.'
At the height of the famine, the British Government implemented
Famine Relief Schemes, large building projects which would reward
labour with Food.
The system of Famine Relief in Ireland was designed to contain
the problem at hand, not relieve it. It was elaborate and
widespread. Many public roads, known as Famine Roads or Green Roads
(because they appear to end up nowhere) were built. Also, mainly in
the Burren, (Co.Clare), long walls were built on the sides of
mountains. 'Poor Rates' were used to fund the local schemes.
The country was divided into Poor Law Unions based on district
electoral divisions.
Each Union had a workhouse, and was managed by guardians who
were overseen by inspectors answerable to the Government. By 1847,
providing work was of little use as many people were ill or
starving and unable to work. This lead to women and children
working at rock-breaking and stone-clearing. Almost all of the work
schemes were unproductive, as the government didn’t wish to upset
the chances of profit for private developers.
The Lough Mask- Lough Corrib Canal was intended as
a link between the two lakes. Building it meant better use of
Galway’s canal system, one of the best in the world at the time. It
would reduce the level of winter flooding in Lough Mask, which it
continues to do. The first objective was not realised, as the canal
had been constructed over highly fissured karstic limestone. When
the canal was opened, the water sank into the cavities below,
rendering it useless. The water sank away as fast as it was coming
in. With the height difference between the two sides of the canal
being around 10 metres, three locks were (partially) constructed,
but then the project ran out of money and was abandoned with the
canal unsealed and the locks not finished. The canal remains dry
for months on end, except after heavy rainfall, or in Winter.
Furthermore, the Five-Star Hotel just outside Cong, Ashford
Castle, was once part of the Ashford Estate, owned by one of
Ireland's wealthiest families, the Guinness Family, most famous for
Arthur Guinness, founder of the legendary St. James' Gate Brewery
in Dublin. Part of the Canal was to pass through the estate, but
apparently the family decided against this at the last moment. It
is throught that this contributed to the failure of the canal.
Other reasons for the abandonment were that there were labour
shortages and of course, the expansion of the railway system into
the West of Ireland.
There have been various feasability studies done by Mayo County
Council for the completion of the canal. To date, none have even
made it to the planning stage.
On a final note, it is well known that the British government
spent just over 9 million on Famine Relief in Ireland, 7.5 million
of which was collected in Poor Rates within Ireland. Only a few
years later the Crimean War cost the Exchequer 63.4 million
Pounds.
Edit to Klaus's original listing by MBSnr - The actual
canal does pass into the Ashford estate directly behind the Church
of Ireland church, where the visible signs of it end in a mound of
earth and stone added to block the end. Walk down the laneway
immediately to the right of the church to get to the canal. Whether
it was filled back in to restore the grounds around the hotel back
to their former glory or never actually dug and completed is not
clear.
My guess is this last few 100 metres was never actually dug,
although the 1st lock on the canal does exist in the estate.
To find it - At the bridge over the river into Ashford Castle
look upstream. On the righthand side there is a copse of trees.
Here you can make out the cut to the canal entrance. Hidden in
those trees is the first lock which has had a tin roof added to
convert it into a boat house.
The second and third locks are on your right as you approach Cong
village from Cross or Neale direction. The third lock is the one in
the picture above. The second lock is adjacent and below the road a
few metres and is now partially filled with earth.
