Porterstown Canal Tragedy 1845

BlazingSaddler

Hi all, I was walking over the Porterstown bridge today and whilst waiting for the level crossing to open noticed a plaque on the wall which has become quite worn away, it was basically a rememberance plaque to those who lost their lives in the sinking of a Dublin to Longford boat in 1845 between Porterstown and Clonsilla. 17 people died. I had never heard of this before and it shocked me so I just wanted to bring it to the attention of others who also may be unfamiliar with the events of that day. See below:

AN AWFUL CALAMITY
The diary of Fr. Dungan, parish priest of Blanchardstown, contains an entry for 25th November 1845 in which he referred to an awful calamity in the upsetting of the Longford light night boat. Seventeen lives were lost between the Porterstown and Clonsilla bridges on the Royal Canal.

The 'Longford Journal' described how at a late hour on Tuesday, the night boat to Longford started at 2pm with 8 passengers in the fore cabin and considerably upwards of 20 in the aft cabin. Upon reaching Clonsilla, the steersman went below to dine and unhappily committed the rudder to a boy employed on board. The boy either not knowing or not attending to his duty permitted the boat to run upon the bank of the canal which caused it to capsize and speedily fill with water.

The fore cabin passengers were saved, that portion of boat being outside the water. The passengers in the aft cabin were plunged into the deepest part of the canal. They could not extract themselves and no help was at hand. By the time the correspondent left the scene, 16 bodies crowded the bank of the canal and the search was continuing for more.

The following day an immense crowd of people assembled on Clonsilla Bridge to view the ill-fated packet boat and the dead bodies of the passengers. The front of the deck of the 'Longford' had been broken by the inmates of the cabin underneath trying to escape.

The Freemans Journal of 26th November 1845 described the sinking as 'a deplorable calamity where helpless infancy and matron old age were crowded in one promiscuous charnel heap'. The article described 'lifeless corpses, male and female, thrown indiscriminately together on the deck of a lumber barge as it lay beside the ill fated passage boat in which the helpless victims had perished'.

The inquest was held by Henry Davis, Dublin County Coroner. His investigations were directed towards finding by what neglect - if any ­the disaster happened. He was of the opinion that:

'there was no necessity to examine medical men for the purpose of ratifying that the deceased persons came to the death by drowning. He would lead the inquest upon the bodies of the individuals who had been identified so that findings being had with reference to their deaths would answer for all of the others'.

dickwod1

Yeah I know of that years my self as I used to be up that way was I was a kid and I could never figure out how so many died in the relatively shallow water there at that point

RTE done a documentary about the Royal canal re-opening last year or so and briefly mentioned it but I'd love to know more about it and that spooky looking old school house beside it!!!

daymobrew

mattb74 wrote: »

Upon reaching Clonsilla, the steersman went below to dine and unhappily committed the rudder to a boy employed on board. The boy either not knowing or not attending to his duty permitted the boat to run upon the bank of the canal which caused it to capsize and speedily fill with water.

I thought that a drunk passenger was at the wheel when it crashed.

dickwod1 wrote: »

I'd love to know more about it and that spooky looking old school house beside it!!!

That is Clonsilla National School.
I have a copy of the book "Blanchardstown, Castleknock and the Park" by Peter Sobolewski (my history teacher for Inter Cert in Coolmine) and might copy the text about the school when I get time.

dickwod1

daymobrew wrote: »

That is Clonsilla National School.
I have a copy of the book "Blanchardstown, Castleknock and the Park" by Peter Sobolewski (my history teacher for Inter Cert in Coolmine) and might copy the text about the school when I get time.

That would be good if you could

fisherking

I heard of it but not in such detail
Thanks for sharing this

ciaran76

I had a school project on this. Wish I had got it back from the school after it was assessed. That was in 1989 !

Murt10

This is the place you want to know about.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/history-heritage/architecture/architecture-in-fingal-du/old-porterstown-national-/


We has a thread on it earlier

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055889348


Now that the new road has opened and you can avoid the level crossing I don't go by it any more. Has any work been done on it recently

dickwod1

Murt10 wrote: »

Has any work been done on it recently

As it is a listed building the owner has to keep/maintain it but was letting it go into disrepair, Fingal co co issued the owner with a warning of some sort to protect the building from further/future damage

Thats why the scaffold/building works were going on

Its a pity its not turned into a bar/restaurant or something its a nice quirky building

daymobrew

mattb74 wrote: »

Upon reaching Clonsilla, the steersman went below to dine and unhappily committed the rudder to a boy employed on board. The boy either not knowing or not attending to his duty permitted the boat to run upon the bank of the canal which caused it to capsize and speedily fill with water.

On http://www.askaboutireland.ie/learning-zone/primary-students/looking-at-places/fingal/blanchardstown-through-ti/the-royal-canal/ the accident is attributed to a drunk passenger.

daymobrew

From the book "Blanchardstown, Castleknock and the Park" by Peter Sobolewski (paintings by Donal MacPolin):

The old national school in Clonsilla can only be described as different when compared with the average national school built in rural Ireland in the nineteenth century. It is a tall, narrow, Dickensian looking building, the brainchild of whom is not recorded. Local gossip relates that the parish priest asked the owners of Luttrellstown Castle for a site on which to build the school. They refused and it is said that he retorted: "I will build a school in spite of you and it will be visible no matter where you go (on your estate)"

The reality was different and more complex. There was no national school in Clonsilla before 1854, so the local children attended Porterstown School. In 1852 Fr Dungan, the parish priest, learned to his horror that the Church of Ireland curate, the Rev Cooke, was using 'literature offensive to Catholic children' in Porterstown school. He would not tolerate proselytizing and all Catholic children were withdrawn from the school within a very short time. This action necessitated a new school and Fr Dungan turned his attention to providing it. He bought five acres of land from the Royal Canal Company and in less than two years the school was ready. The entry in Fr Fungan's diary for Jan 16, 1854 simple states:

"Opened new school at Clonsilla - 58 boys and 66 girls attended. Teachers - Timothy Looney and Mrs James Power"

The teachers lived in the apartments in the basement.

Funding for the school was always a problem and shortly before he died in 1868, Fr Dungan raffled his 12 pount watch. He did it by advertising in the Freeman's Journal. The raffle raised almost 95 pounds.

Clonsilla National School served the parish for nearly 110 years.

Gaspode

Guys there's a lot of posting of what I'm sure is probably copyrighted material here. Can we stick to just providing links please, thanks.

murphaph

dickwod1 wrote: »

Yeah I know of that years my self as I used to be up that way was I was a kid and I could never figure out how so many died in the relatively shallow water there at that point

It's because the canal runs through deep cutting at that point and in those days not as many people could actually swim.