This cache is located 100m from the end of the Strabane canal, near where it meets the River Foyle. Do take time to walk the final 100m stretch out to the Foyle after locating the cache.
The Strabane Canal opened in 1796 and extended some four miles from the centre of Strabane to the tidal waters of the River Foyle. The canal was constructed between 1791 and 1796 at a cost of £11,858 towards which the Irish Parliament provided £3,703 by way of 4% debentures.
The canal was opened to public traffic on 21st March 1796 to much acclaim. The Strabane Journal reported that the first boat to pass through the canal was owned by a Mr Fleming and that, "ale and bonfires and illuminations and other demonstrations of joy closed the night." Both locks were over one hundred feet in length and could accommodate ocean going schooners of some 300 tons burden. The Abercorn estate charged a tonnage rate of two shillings per ton.
However in 1847 Strabane was connected to Ireland's burgeoning railway network when a standard gauge railway line was completed from Londonderry. This hearalded the move from waterway to railway as a mode of moving freight. On 1st July 1860 the company which had been operating the canal since 1820 went into liquidation.
The next operator of the canal was the Strabane Canal Company Limited which was incorporated on 28th April 1890. By this time the condition of the canal had begun to deteriorate. In 1900 the Donegal Railway Company opened its line from Strabane to Victoria Road Londonderry providing another route for transporting freight. By the 1930's the traffic on the canal had more or less ceased. The construction of the Craigavon Bridge at Londonderry, which unlike its two predecessors did not have an opening section to facilitate up river traffic may well have accelerated matters.
In December 1962 the section of canal from the Strabane Basin was officially closed.
In recent years a 1.5 mile portion of the canal including the two locks was renovated with the benefit of a £1.3 m grant. However, Strabane District Council (now Derry and Strabane Council) was in dispute with the development agency who completed the renovation works and therefore the scheme remains somewhat incomplete. PARKING - Turn off the main A5 Strabane to Derry road in the village of Ballymagorry onto the Greenlaw Road. There is a car park at the end of this road.