Overview and the route
Britain’s first true summit-level canal wasn’t in England – it was here, opened in 1742 between the Tyrone coalfields and the sea at Newry, decades before the English canal age got going. The barges are long gone. What’s left is a flat, 20-mile (32 km) towpath from Portadown in County Armagh to Newry in County Down, following the line of the old canal as part of National Cycle Network Route 9.
The surface is mostly compacted stone and gravel towpath, with roughly a tenth of the route on quiet minor roads – comfortable for hybrids, e-bikes, walkers and buggies, less so for narrow-tyred road bikes on the loose sections. Because it barely changes height, you can cover real distance without effort and spend the attention on the canal, the drumlin farmland and the villages strung along it. One thing to keep in mind: this is a shared path, so walkers should expect cyclists coming through, especially at weekends.
If you’re only doing one section, the official-suggested stretch between Knock Bridge and Poyntzpass takes in the summit and the best of the locks.
A pioneering waterway
The canal was built to carry coal from the Tyrone coalfields to the Irish Sea, routing barges via Lough Neagh, the Upper Bann and the Albert Basin at Newry. Its significance is the summit-level design: the water climbs to 78 ft (24 m) above sea level at Poyntzpass before dropping to the coast, which made it the first true summit-level canal in Ireland or Great Britain.
Fourteen locks (thirteen originally) managed the climb – eleven on the descent south toward Newry, three on the northern side down to Lough Neagh. They started out faced in brick and were later refaced in stone from the Benburb quarries in County Tyrone, and the stonework is still there to read. Traffic held up until the railways spread in the 1850s; freight wound down in 1936 and the canal was formally abandoned in 1949.
Local councils bought the disused sections for a symbolic £2 each in the 1970s and ’80s – it’s now split between Newry, Mourne and Down District Council and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council. Volunteers from the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland’s Newry and Portadown branch cleared and repaired the towpath into the greenway it is today, and still work along it; give restorers using power tools a wide berth where you meet them.
Stops along the towpath
- Moneypenny’s Lock House: A restored lock-house that works as an information point, with displays on tolls, horse-drawn barges and 19th-century lock-keeping.
- Scarva Visitor Centre and tearooms: Open Easter to the end of September, closed Mondays. Refreshments, a small local-history display and a bandstand where the Poyntzpass Silver Band plays on Sunday afternoons in season.
- Terryhoogan locks: Among the best-preserved on the route, with stone walls and part of the lock gates intact – the clearest sense anywhere of how barges were raised and lowered.
- Acton Lake (Lough Shark): The summit-level feeder lake, now a wildlife spot, with a volunteer-run interpretive centre built on the site of the former sluice-keeper’s cottage, explaining how the lake fed the summit.
- Jerrettspass: A quiet village stop with an old shopfront and a former lock-keeper’s cottage.
Wildlife and fishing
The corridor holds more life than you’d expect of a working towpath. Otters turn up along the banks, particularly near Acton Lake where the edges are left undisturbed, and the lake draws buzzards, swans and coots, with the odd kingfisher in winter. Coarse fishing for perch, roach, bream and pike is allowed in designated sections, subject to local angling rules.
Getting there and practical tips
- Access points: The main trailheads are Portadown (near the River Bann) and Newry (Albert Basin), with smaller entries at Scarva, Jerrettspass and Poyntzpass.
- Parking: Free at Bann Bridge in Portadown (reached via the Tesco/McDonald’s side), at Scarva Visitor Centre, and a small area at Canal Wood near Poyntzpass. The Newry end is paid – Canal Bank (130 spaces) and Monaghan Street.
- Public transport: Regular buses connect Portadown and Newry, and both towns are on the Belfast–Dublin rail line, so you can walk or ride one way and return by train or bus.
- Facilities: Picnic tables at Acton Lake, toilets at Scarva and Moneypenny’s Lock House, and cafés and shops in the villages.
- Dogs: Welcome, but on a lead near wildlife and livestock, and take care around open water.
If you want to keep going, the new Carlingford Lough Greenway now runs about 20 km from Newry to Carlingford along the ship canal, swapping the inland farmland for sea views. For the canal itself at its quietest, come on a weekday morning, when the path is empty and the wildlife is out.