Strabane and Broharris Canals

In 1791 an Act was passed authorising the construction of a four-mile canal from the tidal waters of the Foyle, about ten miles upstream of Derry, to Strabane. It had two large locks which could accommodate boats up to 100ft (30.4m) long and it was opened to traffic on 21 March 1796. The cost of the works was about £12,000, one third of which was obtained as a loan through the debenture scheme for public works, but the rest of the money was put up by the Marquis of Abercorn who had conceived the idea. He had obtained technical advice from the English engineer, Richard Owen, who was working at the time on the final stages of the Lagan Navigation, and the marquis looked upon the canal as an important factor in increasing the wealth of Strabane and the surrounding area which lay within the boundaries of his estates, opening up the area to the sea-going trade.

The Londonderry Journal praised the 'noble and liberal patron' and the Strabane Journal described the scene as the canal was opened:

Early in the morning all the boats on the river assembled at the mouth of the canal in order to try their dexterity on the still-water navigation and to see which would have the honour of first arriving at Strabane... In the evening a number of respectable inhabitants met and dined at the Abercorn's Arms and drank many loyal toasts suitable to this day; the populace was regaled with ale and bonfires and illuminations and other demonstrations of joy closed the night.

It was suggested that Lough Foyle should be linked by canal with Lough Swilly but nothing came of this plan. The Duke's canal did bring considerable prosperity to Strabane in the first quarter of the nineteenth century and the town became a flourishing market for all sorts of agricultural produce. Lewis's Topographical Dictionary describes the busy scene on the canal: 'on its banks are large ranges of warehouses and stores for grain with wharfs and commodious quays, well adapted to the carrying on of an extensive trade'. In 1836 just over 10,000 tons were handled on the canal; with the advent of steamers, a towing steamer brought the boats up the tidal river and horses towed the boats up the canal.

In the 1820s a cut was made about two miles long on the south shore of Lough Foyle near Ballykelly towards Limavady. It served both as a drainage channel and a navigation with goods being brought from the port of Derry. It was also used to bring in shellfish and kelp from the sand banks along the shore. An appeal from the inhabitants of Limavady for a canal the whole way to the town from Lough Foyle was turned down and the cut, known locally as the Broharris Canal, was the nearest they came to achieving a navigable link with the lough.

Meanwhile, the Duke had leased his interest in the Strabane Canal in 1820 and all had gone well until 1847, when the railway from Derry to Strabane was opened. This line was extended and Strabane was linked with Omagh, Belfast and Enniskillen by the early 1860s. The company which had obtained the lease of the canal went into liquidation in 1860 and a new company, the Strabane Steam Navigation Company, took over the lease with an option to renew. This company suffered a similar fate and yet another company, the Strabane Steam boat Company, was established in 1890. It paid a fixed annual rent to the Duke of £300. By this time the condition of the canal had deteriorated and the bye-traders using it complained to the Board of Trade that the tolls were unreasonable because of the poor state of the waterway. This led to a legal wrangle as to whether the Board of Trade had any jurisdiction over a private company and in the end an inquiry was set up to investigate the matter. The inquiry concluded that it was a public company, and imposed a tonnage rate of 6d, a great deal less than the company's proposal of 2s, and found that the accusations about the shallowness of the channel and the poor condition of the locks were justified but 'it cannot be fairly said that the canal is in an unnavigable state'. The company, angered by the whole affair, made no attempt to improve the canal for the traders.

By 1910 there was less than 2ft (0.61 m) in places in the canal because of seepage through the banks and leaking lockgates, and the lighters were forced to reduce their loads. Shoals and sandbanks in the river were also reducing the depth of the boats and new bridges restricted the width and headroom so that most cargoes had to be transhipped at Derry and sea-going craft could not get through to Strabane. How ever, bulk cargoes of grain and timber for the mills along the canal still arrived by water as did goods for the brewery and tannery; the existence of water transport helped to keep down railway rates. In 1912 yet another company, the Strabane and Foyle Navigation Company, took over and this time the Duke sold his interests outright though he remained a tenant for life. The new company did make efforts to improve the depth in the canal and acquired a steam tug, the Shamrock, to tow strings of lighters along the canal. But it was to no avail; by the early 1930s there was no traffic and parts of the canal were officially abandoned in 1962, the rest remaining disused. The basin at Strabane was filled in and the contribution of the canal to the early prosperity of the town is now largely forgotten.