Confey to Maynooth

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Today I am going to look at the 7.6 kilometre stretch from Cope Bridge at Leixlip Confey to the slipway at Maynooth Harbour which marks the start of the Royal Canal Greenway. Once again I am starting at a train station as I have done with each of the other walking segments I have done coming out of Dublin. With the railway line right by the canal there really is no excuse not to make the best of the towpath as once you have covered the distance you want there is always a train to take you back.

We join the canal at Cope Bridge which most people will know as Leixlip Confey. The good news is that unlike the multiple terrains we covered in the last section, most of the route from Leixlip Confey to Maynooth at least has a solid path, albeit it can be prone to puddles on really wet days.

There is less than 2 kilometres between the two train stations in Leixlip along the canal, however there are quite a number of landmarks along this stretch that are worth looking out for and if you have the time, worth investigating. As you round the corner after the straight from Cope Bridge you will cross over a spillway where water flows down off the level of the canal. Just after the spillway you will see the remains of an old canals works building.

Immediately after the small building there is an opening and a trail path with several sets of wooden steps down into Louisa Valley.

If you follow the steps all the way down to the bottom you will be greeted with the sight of the Leixlip Waterfall. The water flows down from the level of the canal and a small stream that lies adjacent to the canal near the spillway we crossed over. From there it joins up with the Rye River.

Once you come back up from the waterfall you come to the second large undertaking necessitated by the rerouting of the Royal Canal by the demands of the 2nd Duke of Leinster as we previously mentioned on our walk through the Deep Sinking. This is the Ryewater Aqueduct which was built to carry the canal over the Rye River and on towards Carton House. The descent down to see the waterfall which isn’t even at the level of the Rye River illustrates how big an undertaking this was.

Engineer Richard Evans who had previously worked on the Grand Canal and on the Boyne Navigation was appointed as the engineer for the Royal Canal in 1793 and remained in the post until his death in 1802. However his time in the role is not without controversy relating to financial mismanagement of the building of the canal. Richard Evans along with company surveyor John Brownrigg would have overseen the construction of the aqueduct which soars to a height of of 26 metres above the river below. The aqueduct was beset with problems and poor weather. The foundations of the aqueduct collapsed twice during construction as the mortar would not set. It ended up costing over £27,000 to finish. That all said it has now stood over the Rye River for over 200 years carrying not only the canal but a double-line railway. Unfortunately recent attempts to get a photograph of the aqueduct from the river basin have been thwarted by wet ground. Hopefully in the near future I will get down to take a decent photograph. Sadly the magnificence of many aqueducts are missed by those crossing over them.

While I was unable to get down as far as the the river basin I did manage to get down to the Leixlip Spa which there are signs for after the aqueduct. Discovered in 1793 by navies doing ground works for the canal, the spa waters bubble at a constaant 23.8 degrees celsius. The mineral spring was diverted into a Romanesque hexagonal basin pictured above. While popular during the 19th Century the site fell into disrepair. Restoration work took place in 2010 reinstating some of the brick work and capping that had previously been worked on in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.

Once we come back up from the Leixlip Spa we can see Louisa Bridge and the train station beside it. Louisa Bridge is named for Lady Louisa Connolly of Castletown House in Celbridge. Lady Louisa was the younger sister of Lady Emily Fitzgerald, Duchess of Leinster who was the mother of our much discussed 2nd Duke of Leinster. After the death of her husband, the 1st Duke of Leinster, the now Dowager Leinster moved to Frescati House in Blackrock where she lived in more comfort then the ever increasingly indebted son, the 2nd Duke who had to retain both nearby Carton House as well as Leinster House in Dublin.

Passing under Louisa Bridge we emerge out alongside Le Chéile Athletics Club running track as we head towards the Leixlip Celbridge Interchange flyover at Collinstown known as Matt Goff Bridge. Matt Goff was a Kildare County footballer who won six Leinster medals as well as two All-Irelands during the 1920’s. He was part of the Kildare winning side that was the first team to raise the Sam Maguire Cup. He worked as a military police officer and later worked for CIÉ. The bridge, built in the early 2000’s links the west side of Leixlip and Intel to the M4 motorway and Celbridge on the far side of it.

With all the development work currently ongoing at the Intel Plant at Leixlip the road next to the canal was recently moved and the short section between Matt Goff Bridge and Deey Bridge and the 13th Lock was upgraded to the standard of Greenway we can expect when we travel further west.

Not long after passing the bridge we come across a Royal Canal mile marker. Not many of these still exist and the weather has worn this one down but I am fairly certain that this is the 12 mile marker, not from where we started at the Liffey though, but rather from Broadstone.

After quickly rising up the locks leaving Dublin, its been some 12.5 kilometre’s since we left the 12th Lock in Castleknock before we reach the haunted 13th Lock at Deey Bridge.

There seems to be some dispute over whether it was the 13th Lock of the Royal Canal or the Grand Canal that famous Irish writer and politician Arthur Griffith wrote his poem The Thirteenth Lock about. I was always told that it was the Royal Canal so I am sticking to that.* There is only 8 kilometres between the 13th Lock on the Royal and the 13th Lock on the Grand and both are the 1st locks outside of Dublin on both canals so quite likely it is associated with the unlucky number. All the same the boat mooring in the photos is taking more of a chance than I would in their place.

*Addendum: On reading Ruth Delany’s Ireland’s Inland Waterways: Celebrating 300 Years, it would appear that the haunted lock is in fact on the Grand Canal as it was said it goes through the site of a graveyard (pg. 144).

Deey Bridge is level with a little used level crossing on the railway. We remain on the north bank as we pass the lock and take to the last grass section we will encounter on the Royal Canal. This short section of grass only lasts for about 1 kilometre not even as far the next bridge.

Just short of the harbour at Pike Bridge outside the gates of Carton House, the graveyard and remains of a church at Donaghmore can be seen on the other side of the canal.

As we reach the gates of Carton House, the canal widens out for a small harbour, no doubt so the Duke of Leinster could bring his guests right to his domain. Of course Carton House is now the home of a hotel, two golf courses and an internationally renowned training camp for sports including rugby, soccer and GAA but it was ancestral seat of the Earls of Kildare and the Dukes of Leinster since the 1100’s. The main house that now stands as part of the hotel was designed by famed architect Richard Cassels (also known as Richard Castle) who also designed other famed Irish buildings such as Leinster House and Russborough House. If you are feeling flush, you could take the walk up through the golf courses to the house for some afternoon tea. Be mindful though that it is about 2 kilometres from the gates to the front door.

Just beyond the gates as we move towards Maynooth is Pike Bridge named for Mr. William Pike and not the fish that are commonly found around this part of the canal.

It is worth leaving the canal to summit the bridge as it gives a good view over the flat lands of Kildare. In the distance can be seen Connolly’s Folly. The obelisk set above a network of arches was designed by the previously mentioned Richard Cassels and was commissioned by Katherine Connolly, wife of William Connolly, speaker of the Irish Parliament who was a grand-uncle of Thomas Connolly, husband of Lady Louisa that I previously mentioned. Confused? I sure am. Every time I dig into the names of the people who originally contributed to the building of the Royal Canal I find more that links them to each other and to the elites of Irish society. The folly is now the logo for the Irish Georgian Society who worked to restore in the 1960’s. Buried beneath is a founding member of the society, Mariga Guinness, first wife of Desmond Guinness of Leixlip Castle.

As we emerge out on the other side of Pike’s Bridge we can see the spire of St. Patrick’s College in the distance as we make our way into Maynooth. The seminary is a contemporary of the canal both being built in the area around 1795. As we get closer to the town we can see the Straffan Road Bridge built alongside the original Mullen Bridge which leads us into Maynooth Harbour by the harbour field.

Maynooth is a historical town with a castle, a university and many great places for food. It is also my home town so it is far to easy for me to go into detail here so I would suggest if you have made it this far, you should take some time to explore the town.

We end our walk at the Maynooth Harbour slipway after travelling just under 8 kilometres from Cope Bridge at Leixlip Confey. Once again you just need to cross the footbridge to get to the train station to get back towards Dublin. Maynooth marks the end of the rail commuter zone. From here I will be hopping on my bike for the next section as we join the Royal Canal Greenway.

For more from the Royal Canal Runenr visit https://royalcanalrunner.com/

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