Strabane Satellite Imagery 1995

Strabane c1995 before Phase 2 of the Great Northern Link. 


If you wish to inspect or alter the imagery, a file in KMZ format is now available for download

To use: open the file inside Google Earth.

Flyover: c1864 Londonderry Enniskillen Railway

The route of the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway c1864, overlaid on modern satellite imagery from Google Earth.

The route and POIs in the video were reconstructed from the maps of the Griffith's Valuation. Whilst the terminus at Enniskillen was reached in 1854, the Griffith's Valuation maps, used for the video, date to circa 1864. Maps for Londonderry were not available, therefore the video picks up the route just outside Derry City. To view the complete route see the download section below.

• 1844: Sir John McNeil presents his plan of the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway to parliament. 
• 1845 July: Parliament passes McNeil's plan but McNeil declines to build the line.
• 1845 Aug 18: Robert Stephenson takes on the project but rubbishes McNeil's plans.
• 1847: The L&ER line from Derry reaches Strabane.
• 1848: Stephenson withdraws from the project.
• 1854 Aug 19: The railway line reaches the terminus at Enniskillen.
• 1863 Sept 7: Finn Valley Railways open the Strabane to Stranorlar line.
• 1957 Oct 1: Enniskillen railway station closes

Sections of the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway

If you wish to inspect or alter the path data used in the flyover, a file in KMZ format is now available for download

To use: open the file inside Google Earth.

1844 Plan: Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway

The following documents entitled "Plans and Sections of the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway with a branch to Lough Swilly 1844" were made available to the OSB through the kind generosity of Mr CurlyHill. The entire photocopied plan spreads out over 21 pages.

Sheet 1: Plans and Sections of the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway with a branch to Lough Swilly 1844

This particular plan for the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway (L&ER) was prepared for Parliament by the engineer Sir John McNeil in 1844, at the request of the Irish Railway Commission. However, these pages do not depict the final route taken by the railway. The final design was influenced in part by the eminent engineer Robert Stephenson and Alexander Ross; after McNeil declined to build the line when the act passed in July 1845.

Report, Robert Stephenson and Alexander M Ross, London 18 August 1845, with report of the first General Meeting of the Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway, The Railway Times, VIII, 30 August 1845, p. 1390. We have inspected the entire line, and have to report to you that much alteration is required to save expense, and to expedite the execution of the works very materially. We are informed that surveys were made in haste, and that Sir J. MacNeil, in the midst of his then pressing engagements, did not himself have time personally to go over the line.

The line to Strabane should have been completed by September 1846 (L&ER General Meeting, Railway Times IX 29 Aug 1846), but allegations from shareholders of Ross's personal and financial involvement with the contractor James Leishman (1800-1884) slowed the project down. The railway station at Strabane opened months later in 1847. Perhaps wearied by the growing dissatisfaction and paranoia of parsimonious shareholder during the famine years, Stephenson and Ross withdrew from the project by January 1848. (The Railway Record V, 15 January 1848 pp56-57). It would take 6 more years to reach the terminus at Enniskillen.

To highlight the difference between McNeil's plan and the completed 1854 L&ER route: on sheet 4 MacNeil runs the rail track at Strabane east of the Bowling Green, through the plot where the Church Of the Immaculate Conception is now situated, up Townsend Street and parallel to the Liskey Road.

Despite Stephenson's criticisms, McNeil's maps are still a useful source of information that show us, albeit roughly at times, what 70 miles of countryside looked like during that period.

The following downloadable KMZ Basemaps and KMZ Enlargement files were designed to be viewed upon the satellite imagery of Google Earth. Since the files were converted to the WGS 84 datum, all measurements should be treated as imprecise due to datum displacement. The opacity and location of the maps can be adjusted within Google Earth. Zoomit links are provided to show the maps in their original unadjusted state.

*NOTE: Google have altered the way their cloud storage system "GoogleDocs" handles KMZ files. Instead of displaying a direct download link, GoogleDocs now opens the KMZ file directly onto Google Maps. Whilst this is a good idea in principle, Google have only partially implemented KMZ support on Google Maps as of yet. As a result, many KMZ files are aligned incorrectly when viewed on Google Maps this way. However, the same KMZ files will appear correctly aligned when opened in GoogleEarth. On the following links please make sure you select Download from the File menu, and then open the files in Google Earth. Just ignore the GoogleMaps preview.

Main Route

View and Download Links

View Online	Download BaseMap	Download EnlargEments
Zoomit Views	KMZ for Google Earth	KMZ for Google Earth
Sheet 1 ∙	City and County Londonderry	6 Sections
Sheet 2	Saint Johnstown - Templemore	3 Sections
Sheet 3	Porthall - Tullyowen	7 Sections
Sheet 4 ∙	Strabane town	4 Sections
Sheet 5	Breen - Milltown	7 Sections
Sheet 6 ∙	Newtown Stewart - Mulvin	3 Sections
Sheet 7	Beltan - Pubble	11 Sections
Sheet 8	Lislimnaghan - Castletown	17 Sections
Sheet 9 ∙	Omagh	12 Sections
Sheet 10	Mullawinny - Mullaghmore	9 Sections
Sheet 11	Drumskinny - Shanaragh	8 Sections
Sheet 12	Strangagummer - Esker	9 Sections
Sheet 13	Drummurry- Lisnahanna	11 Sections
Sheet 14	Aughaward - Salry	9 Sections
Sheet 15 ∙	Enniskillen	9 Sections

Lifford Deviation

View and Download Links

View Online	Download BaseMap	Download EnlargEments
Zoomit Views	KMZ for Google Earth	KMZ for Google Earth
Part 1	Lifford Common - Porthall	6 Sections
Part 2	Liggartown - Coneyburrow	8 Sections
Part 3	Trafalgar	1 Section

Derry City and Branch to Lough Swilly

View and Download Links

View Online	Download BaseMap	Download EnlargEments
Zoomit Views	KMZ for Google Earth	KMZ for Google Earth
Sheet 1a	City of Londonderry Enlarged Plan	-
Swilly Branch	Port Lough - Whitehouse	9 Sections

Life expectancy \ income - Ireland \ UK. 1800-2009 (GapMinder data)

SkyDrive Folder (alternative links)
  

Map: Strabane Tenements 1854

Map: Strabane Town Parks and Tenements 1854 (photocopy by Mr Curly Hill)

Here is the download link to the Tenements section of the 1854 Map of Strabane. Since the Town Parks sections were drawn to a different scale they should be ignored in Google Earth.


Please note:
The panels of the map, from which this KMZ file was created, were very kindly loaned to the OldStrabaneBlog by Mr Curly Hill. That document was a hand-coloured photocopy of an original map. Futhermore, the paper on which that copy was printed, was wrinkled, and water-damaged.

Perch Distances:

• Irish Perch 7 yards
• Cunningham Perch 6.24 yards
• Woodland Perch 6 yards
• Statute Perch 5.5 yards

History Pin: Mobile Phone Camera App

If you wish to create a modern-day equivalent of any postcard featured on the Old Strabane Blog, then you might be interested to hear that HistoryPin is now available as a free downloadable app on both the Android Market and iPhone App Store.

One feature of this App places a translucent overlay of a selected image onto the viewfinder of your mobile phone's camera. By reducing the opacity of the overlay you can easily align your mobile phone's camera to snap an accurate modern-day replica of the old image.

* Almost all of the images featured on the Old Strabane Blog are now accessible within the HistoryPin App and on the HistoryPin Website..

Convent of Mercy Before Demolition

More than 25 photographs of the Convent of Mercy in Strabane, have been geo-positioned and uploaded to the WhatWasThere website. These photographs were taken in the 1990s, shortly before the demolition of the site. Evish Grove estate now stands on the site of the old convent. What follows is just a small selection of the images now available on WhatWasThere.













Images by Mr P. McDaid; supplied to the blog by Mr Curley Hill.

Downloads
 If you wish to inspect the location of the images in Google Earth, a KML file is now available for download. Alternatively you can view the Map from your browser.

Android users can click on the Convent Map link.


Related Images:

Flyover: Strabane Canal (HD 720p)

Based on the Griffith's Valuation Maps c1850

If you wish to inspect or alter the path data used in the flyover, a file in KMZ format is now available for download

To use: open the file inside Google Earth.

Flyover: Strabane Donegal Railway (HD)

Note: station and halt photos are not aligned to the direction of the flyover.

The track between Strabane and Donegal town was modified several times in its history. In the video the railway line was retraced using several maps from different time periods, including the  Griffiths Valuation Maps dated c1850-1870 (Strabane to Stranorlar sections), the OS 1905 maps of each station, and a much lower resolution 1906 Viceregal Commission Map (Stranorlar to Donegal). The maps were rescaled to fit Google Earth. Taking all this into consideration, the red line and station markers shown in the video should therefore be considered an approximation of the actual rail track.

• 1863 Sept 7: Finn Valley Railways open the Strabane to Stranorlar standard gauge line.
  
• 1882 Apr 25: A narrow gauge line from Stranorlar to Lough Eske opens. The line, built by West Donegal Railway (by Lord Lifford), is operated by Finn Valley Railways. A lack of funding sees the route stop 4 miles short of Donegal town. A horse drawn road-coach service from Lough Eske provides connection to the town.
• 1889 16 Sept: The line from Lough Eske (Druminin) to Donegal town opens.
  
• 1892: Finn Valley Railway and West Donegal Railways amalgamate.
• 1894: 13-16 July: The Finn Valley/Donegal Railway line converts to 3'0" narrow gauge.
• 1909: Strabane Letterkenny Station opens.
• 1960: Strabane (CDJ) closes.
• 1965: Strabane (GNI) closes.

If you wish to inspect or alter the track data within Google Earth, a GIS application or SatNav device, a file in KMZ format is now available for download.

Slideshow: Strabane Donegal Railway | View all

Newspaper Article:
New Zealand Tablet: 26 Oct 1894 Page 21 (see Donegal section)

Related links:

• Irish Railway Record Society
• Trainweb CDR: Strabane - Donegal
• A large collection of related colour photographs from the 1950s are available from Ron White's ColourRail catalogues.
• Photo: Barnesmore Gap 1899 - William Lawrence

Related Photos

Update: WhatWasThere and iPhone support.

Long time, no update... I hope it was worth the wait.

Here's what's new:

• Most of the photos featured on the blog were uploaded to a new website called WhatWasThere.com. WhatWasThere shares the same goal as SepiaTown, but does things slightly differently.
• A free App for the iPhone and iPod touch is available for download on iTunes. Android users can use my 'Photo History Map' to get a similar experience. 
• The Newspaper Timeline link was re-tuned to reduce the number of hits on the other Strabane over in Washington.

Knockavoe viewed from Lifford late 1880s

Looking East from Lifford late 1880s (approx 200 yards SW of Lifford bridge) | fullsize
Image supplied by Mr Curlyhill. The original metal sign can be found at the UAFP.

---

View Modes

SEPIATOWN	WHATWASTHERE	BIRD'S EYE
View	View	View

• 1894: 13-16 July: The Finn Valley/Donegal Railway line converts to 3'0" narrow gauge. 
  A new railway bridge constructed over the River Mourne opens. (see Donegal section)

For a more accurate location see the Photo History Map, or load the BlogPhoto.KML file into Google Earth.

Quote: Mr Curlyhill
My deduction of this is that it was a promotional item issued by a Wine and Spirit Merchant called Sproule and McIvor. They were in existence in 1882 but no Longer in the 1890s.
The last recorded name of Sproule & McIvor was between 1891 and 1892, thereafter it became solely McIvor.  This is my deduction of the drawing being done in the late 1880s. 

Building locations: extrudes from the 1905 ordnance survey in Google Earth. Strabane Bridge is represented by the horizontal box at the bottom of F,G and H.

It is possible that the large building on the extreme right edge of the Sproule and McIvor poster, (also shown as the marker labeled 'H' in the Building locations 3D reconstruction), is the tower at Saint John's Church. Saint John's was built in 1827 on the current site of Strabane Grotto. A tower was added to the church in the year 1837. (See related document: Christianity and Catholicism in Strabane before 1895)

• Narrator: Sister Ursula (Convent of Mercy)
• Audio Source: Mr Curlyhill
• Song Lyrics: Willliam Collins
• Closed captioning is available at Youtube.com.

The lyrics to the song "At the foot of Knockavoe" were written by William Collins. Collins was born in Strabane in 1840 and emigrated to Canada at the age of 15. Later he moved to Cleveland and enlisted in the Federal Army. He fought in both the American Civil War, and in the Fenian Raid of Canada. After the wars, he wrote several books of poems. Collins also wrote for the Boston Globe and the New York Globe.

In recent times, the words from Collins's poem "At the foot of Knockavoe" were put to music by Strabane man and local musician, Joseph Gormley.

Related Documents:

1	Christianity and Catholicism in Strabane before 1895
2	Annals of The Four Masters Transcribed by Michael Harron, MSc, MSc
3	A Sigh For Old Times William Collins poem of Strabane.

Here is the download link to the Battle of Knockavoe points-of-interest file.
To use: Open the file inside Google Earth.


Knockavoe battle analysis by Mr Curlyhill | click image for fullsize


Related links:
Strabane District Council - William Collins
Death notice of Sr Ursula Mc Hugh Dec-20-2010

Related Images:

Strabane Satellite Imagery High-Res c2007

Here is the download link to the circa 2007 satellite imagery of Strabane in KMZ (Google Earth) format.
To use: Open the file inside Google Earth..




This file covers a smaller area, but is of a higher resolution than the previous satellite imagery file.

Strabane Satellite Imagery Med-Res c2007

Here is the download link to the circa 2007 satellite imagery of Strabane in KMZ (Google Earth) format.
To use: Open the file inside Google Earth..





If you wish to use other KMZ maps of Strabane (see Downloads section) with the new satellite imagery in Google Earth, then load the satellite imagery first and the map imagery second. To see through the maps adjust GoogleEarth's opacity slider.


Example: 1905 Ordnance Survey overlaid on the new satellite imagery in GoogleEarth

For multiple overlays I would recommend using a computer with at least 3 gigabytes of RAM.

Statute Miles to Irish Miles

TABLE FOR CONVERTING STATUTE MILES  INTO IRISH MILES.
Statute Miles.	Irish		Statute Miles.	Irish		Statute Miles.	Irish		Statute Miles.	Irish
	Miles	Furlongs		Miles	Furlongs		Miles	Furlongs		Miles	Furlongs
1	0	6	36	28	2	71	55	6	106	83	2
2	1	5	37	29	0	72	56	4	107	84	0
3	2	3	38	29	6	73	57	2	108	84	6
4	3	1	39	30	5	74	58	1	109	85	5
5	3	7	40	31	3	75	58	7	110	86	3
6	4	6	41	32	1	76	59	5	111	87	1
7	5	4	42	33	0	77	60	3	112	87	7
8	6	2	43	33	6	78	61	2	113	88	6
9	7	1	44	34	4	79	62	0	114	89	4
10	7	7	45	35	2	80	62	6	115	90	2
11	8	5	46	36	1	81	63	5	116	91	1
12	9	3	47	36	7	82	64	3	117	91	7
13	10	2	48	37	5	83	65	1	118	92	5
14	11	0	49	38	3	84	65	7	119	93	3
15	11	6	50	39	2	85	66	6	120	94	2
16	12	5	51	40	0	86	67	4	121	95	0
17	13	3	52	40	6	87	68	2	122	95	6
18	14	1	53	41	5	88	69	1	123	96	5
19	14	7	54	42	3	89	69	7	124	97	3
20	15	6	55	43	1	90	70	5	125	98	1
21	16	4	56	44	0	91	71	3	126	98	7
22	17	2	57	44	6	92	72	2	127	99	6
23	18	1	58	45	4	93	73	0	128	100	4
24	18	7	59	46	2	94	73	6	129	101	2
25	19	5	60	47	1	95	74	5	130	102	1
26	20	3	61	47	7	96	75	3	131	102	7
27	21	2	62	48	5	97	76	1	132	103	5
28	22	0	63	49	3	98	76	7	133	104	3
29	22	6	64	50	2	99	77	6	134	105	2
30	23	5	65	51	0	100	78	4	135	106	0
31	24	3	66	51	6	101	79	2	136	106	6
32	25	1	67	52	5	102	80	1	137	107	5
33	25	7	68	53	3	103	80	7	138	108	3
34	26	6	69	54	1	104	81	5	139	109	1
35	27	4	70	55	0	105	82	3	140	110	0

This chart is based on a table found in the "Hand Book For Travellers in Ireland 1854".
The new values were recalculated and rounded down in MS Excel.

• 1 Statute Mile = 1760 Yards
• 1 Irish Mile = 2240 Yards
• 11 Irish Miles = 14 Statute Miles
• 1 Statute Acre = 4840 SQ. Yards
• 1 Irish Acre = 7840 SQ. Yards
• 121 Irish Acres = 196 Statute Acres

The usage of the "Irish Mile" can seen on a number of old road markers dotted in and around Strabane.

Quote from Mr Curlyhill:

• [On passing the Roads Division on the Derry Road] - "At the rear entrance there is a very, very old Mile Marker Stone that states Derry 11 Miles"
• "...outside Murphy's on the Green at its upper end next Barrack street there is an iron Mile Marker that also states Derry 11 Miles"

"Irish miles" and "Irish acres" were used on many old documents such as Trade Directories and maps (although all the Ordnance Survey Maps of Ireland used statute miles).The Post Office in Ireland used Irish miles up until 1856.


Download:
MileConversion.xlsx

Related Documents:
Irish Historical Studies
Vol. 14, No. 55