Episodes
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A potted history of the Grand Canal and the Barrow Navigation, as told by Alan Lindley, whose family have been on the locks at Rahan, County Offaly, since the canal was constructed in the 1790s.
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One of Ireland’s three lady lockkeepers discusses her unusual experiences on the Shannon, where she looks after the Albert Lock in County Roscommon, with some background on the area that she patrols and manages.
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Missing episodes?
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The life of a lockkeeper on the Barrow Navigation as told by John O’Neill of Slyguff, County Carlow, who recalls the life of his late aunt Maggie Gorman, and how his father used to row across the river to work.
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Homing in on some of the 51 island monasteries on Ireland’s inland waterways, such as Lough Erne, Lough Key and Lough Ree, and telling the story of the hermits and anchorites who lived in such places.
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Tracking the early Christian settlement along the River Barrow, and the birth of the famous monastic schools along the Shannon and the Boyne at Clonmacnois, Clonfert and Clonard, as well as others on Lough Ree and Lough Derg.
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A look at the geological origins of Ireland’s rivers and lakes, and the land through which the canals were cut, as well as the archaeological legacy of the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age periods which gave rise to burial tombs, log-boats and crannogs along such waterways as the Shannon, the Barrow and the Erne.
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Nearly every Irish river and lough is named for a deity from the annals of Celtic mythology. Most are goddesses of the Tuatha de Danaan, while others involve the likes of Finn MacCool, the Fir Bolg and the Children of Lir. Turtle tracks the origin of each name and provides a colourful retelling of the associated legends.
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An overview of what the series is about, including an introduction to the various rivers, lakes, and waterways, including the conception of the canal network in Georgian Ireland.
