The Canal Walk

Nicholas Maher, and takes account of previous research prepared by the late Edward Law

There is a general consensus that the Canal Walk came into being about 1763. The canal was in existence five years before that, being shown on Rocque’s map of 1758. At that time there was a lane alongside the canal and river, from the Castle Mills to the castle, but there was not an entrance into Rose Inn Street. That exit to the city was probably made when the new John’s Bridge was erected following the flood of 1763. In 1786 when Samuel Byron did his survey of the city, the walk is shown continuing to Rose Inn Street and is named the Mall.

The earliest use noted of the name Canal walk is in 1834. In 1814, described as the promenade between the canal and the river, it was said to offer a delightful and salubrious recreation to the citizens. While this part of the walk was surfaced with broken limestone, the approach to it from Rose Inn Street was said to have a clay surface. That, combined with the slope down to the river which was unfenced, made it a treacherous walk after the slightest of showers.

With the advent of the reformed city Corporation, in 1844, the facilities for the citizens became a matter of increasing concern. Complaints about the poor state of the Canal walk were addressed as the funds allowed and the first two Mayors under the new regime showed a particular and personal interest in the betterment of the walk.
A vegetable market had been established by common usage on a plot of ground at the present Canal Square, off Rose Inn Street, and this was quickly removed to a more appropriate accommodation. Edmund Smithwick marked his year as mayor in 1844, by providing, at his own cost, a decorative Iron gateway and pallisading at the city entrance to the walk. Substantial cast iron plaques recording the gift, which adorned the gate piers, are now preserved in Rothe House.

Continuing the improvements, the next Mayor Dr. Robert Kane paid for the erection of the Lodge house which, unlike the gates, still exists. It was both decorative and functional being intended for the residence of a council employee who would look after the walk and patrol it as necessary. The castellated cottage is an attractive feature, though no longer residential. I do recall from my own childhood, the family of Kevin Trainor living in the Lodge, Kevin being a well-recognised newspaper vendor in the city in the 1960s.
On the front of the Lodge, facing the Canal Square is a misleading stone plaque which records:- “ this slab is inscribed by Alderman O’Donnell, Mayor 1885 to the memory of Alderman Robert Kane, who during his second year of mayoralty in 1849, devoted his salary to the erection of this lodge. In fact it was built to mark his first year as mayor, which was in 1845.
Along the walk proper is another inscribed stone built into the castle wall. This commemorates improvements effected in 1861 by the then Mayor, Thomas Power, whose extensive establishment in High Street was the city’s leading ironmongers.

As well as providing a pleasant promenade close to the city, the walk was also a venue for music which was provided by local bands, particularly those of regiments stationed in the city at different times. The substantial base of a bandstand which has recently been landscaped can be seen beyond the new car park at the foot of the lane between Dukes Meadows and the castle grounds. Also evident beside the present walk is the depression which locates the line of the 18th-century canal which had been intended, along with the deeper reaches of the River Nore to enable navigation down as far as Inistioge.

The river beside the walk was used for bathing and the new corporation were perhaps a little extreme in their bylaws which they quickly introduced. One of them, addressing complaints of affronts to public dignity, made provision for the arrest of anyone indulging in public bathing, except above Greensbridge! Presumably the residents there were not so easily shocked. I would hope that my own neighbours today in Dukes Meadows would be equally as tolerant.