Mystery of bailieborough drainage system solved

Seamus Enright

Drainage works on Main Street, Bailieborough, were completed last week with a long-awaited overlay due to be applied to the surface of the roadway later this month. However, the works are only now nearing a satisfactory conclusion after Cavan County Council, by its own admission, overcame “serious issues”, taking them on a process that delved deep into the surface of the town and its history also.
Faced with a task of attempting to unravel almost a decade and a half of projects laid under the Main Street surface, some of which had affected the original drainage system, the council was confronted with a far more perplexing complication - where did the water run-off from the street actually flow to?
Following examinations, council engineers spoke to some locals, with some in the older generation recalling an underground river and water pipe running through the street, into the town lake.
Earlier attempts at flushing the existing gullies had found blockages throughout the system, before the works were carried out as part of a €300,000 investment in the Bailieborough Main Street streetscape.
“In the course of our investigations, speaking to elderly local people, some told us they have a memory of looking down into a river along the street. Now, that’s going back years,” senior executive engineer at Cavan County Council, Pat Gaynor, told The Anglo-Celt.
With that in mind, the authority dug down in the hope of finding the course. “Usually these would be between two and three metres below the surface. That would be the usual depth,” he explained.But it was almost seven metres - or 22 feet down - before workmen struck the underground watercourse.
Today, Mr Gaynor explained, as a result of developments in the town over the years, 99% of that forgotten tributary now runs under buildings, backyards and roadways in the town.
“From speaking with people, we knew it was there. We didn’t know where or how deep. We needed to know where the water was draining to before we could do any more work, just in case anything we did caused more problems elsewhere,” he detailed.
The council was commended for its perseverance and ultimate success at the meeting of the Bailieborough-Cootehill Municipal District Council last week. At the meeting, presided over by leas cathaoirleach Carmel Brady, Mr Gaynor also informed the members present of details of the significant roadworks programme currrently underway across the district.

Road works
Footpaths are complete and lining was due to start on the Bailieborough-Kingcourt road, as was restoration improvements on the Monaghan Road, Cootehill; while full works including overlay were completed on the N3 bypass at Castletara and on the road from Latt to Cullies.
Restoration improvement works to local roads at Cornabraher will be begin at the end of the month; drainage has been completed and strengthening works have begun at Pottle West and overlay has finished and lining is due on the road at Latterliff.
Route treatment to the Cavan-Cootehill road is currently at design stage and similar works on the N3 Lavey-Kingscourt began last week.
In Bailieborough Town, the Castle Lake footpath will be finished by October 31 and works at Darkley and Carrickacreeney, Shercock and at Cashell, Maudabawn, have all now commenced.
A contractor, meanwhile, has been assigned to deliver safety measures for Stradone.