One of the most dramatic marine visual sights in the country is along Drogheda Port’s town quays, where you can see the backdrop of the Boyne Viaduct which carries the main rail line from Dublin northwards.
It spans the historic River Boyne which has been known since ancient times …The Greek geographer PTOLEMY is said to have drawn a map of Ireland in the second century which included the Boyne…
The port has been crucial to the newspaper industry, as the major import centre for newsprint. Having reported quite a bit of its development over the years, one aspect which appeared to me not to be high on the priority list was the leisure sector, for which Drogheda would not be traditionally known.
Fiddle Case Pier at Drogheda Port
There is a change in that aspect and its welcome. The Port Company tells me that its intention is to become an East Coast boating location in addition to its commercial development. A few developments are coming together in that regard and will be highlighted this weekend.
"The Port Company tells me that its intention is to become an East Coast boating location in addition to its commercial development"
The Fiddle Case Pier is one of the most unusual names I’ve ever heard for a pier. There was an original Fiddle Case Pier constructed in the 1850s in the port, but the origin of the name seems to lack specific records, so I’m told. The 40-metre Fiddle Case Pier there now is 400 metres upstream of that dramatic Boyne Viaduct vista and past the shipping quays.
A joint venture between the port and Louth County Council, it’s intended to provide for expansion, depending upon demand, which could increase with the opening up of maritime access to the Boyne Valley upon which the Boyne Navigation Group has been doing tremendous work to enable boats make their way up the Boyne.
This weekend the port will host the annual Maritime Festival and another piece of history when the French Navy visits for the first time. With Tall Ships and leisure craft gathered it will highlight the leisure aspect with the commercial at a time when the Port is at work on a Master Plan for the next twenty years or so and has put its subsidiary Bremore Port up for sale.
Big changes then at Drogheda and a port which is putting more emphasis on the leisure marine in the context of port development.
