Overview
Drimnagh Castle has the last flooded moat in Ireland, and the water sitting in it comes from the Camac. That is the kind of river this is – not a wilderness, but a small urban waterway wound tightly into Dublin’s history. It runs about 24 km from Mount Seskin in the Dublin Mountains to the Liffey at Heuston Station, one of four tributaries that helped the early city grow to the west. Walk its banks and you pass a 7th-century monastic site, old mill remains, new planting and modern parks in the space of a few kilometres.
One thing to know before you go near the water in 2026: a confirmed outbreak of crayfish plague, which is devastating to the native white-clawed crayfish, was reported on the Camac in June. It is harmless to people and pets, but anyone using the river is asked to follow the ‘Check, Clean, Dry’ routine on boots and gear to avoid spreading it. The volunteer clean-ups were paused because of it.
History and heritage
The name Camac is usually read as ‘crooked’ or ‘wandering’, a fair description of a river straightened, culverted and restored by turns. Excavations near Clondalkin Round Tower point to an early Christian settlement founded by St Chrónán Mochua in the 7th century, with the river as its water source.
By the 17th and 18th centuries that reliable flow drove a dense industrial belt: sawmills, the Swiftbook paper mills at Saggart, Clondalkin, Killeen and Drimnagh, gunpowder mills, woollen mills, and a silk mill and linseed-oil works in Kilmainham. As the mills closed the river slipped out of sight – long stretches were culverted and its water quality fell away. Set up in March 2018, the volunteer group Friends of the Camac now meet regularly to clean the river and its surroundings and, with Dublin City Council and others, to bring it back into public view.
Ecology and restoration
The Camac’s recovery is real but fragile, and 2024 showed how quickly it can go backwards: a pollution incident traced to a construction firm killed some 500 brown trout, 250 native crayfish and 250 lampreys along a 3.5 km stretch of the river. Restoration work continues in spite of it. Friends of the Camac have proposed around 30 rock-cobble weirs to improve habitat, and some are built – they create deeper, oxygen-rich pools for fish and the small invertebrates that feed them – while native trees and shrubs are being planted to hold the banks and filter runoff.
What to see and do
The Camac is best taken as a string of stops rather than one continuous trail:
- Drimnagh Castle moat – the last surviving flooded moat in Ireland, fed by the river.
- Clondalkin Round Tower – beside the 7th-century monastic site the Camac once supplied.
- Corkagh Park – historic fishing lakes and former mill-ponds, still managed for coarse fishing and good for waterbirds.
- Bow Bridge (Inchicore) – a clear view of the river’s flow and its seasonal levels.
- Kilmainham Gaol and the Royal Hospital – the Camac runs behind both, a quiet green edge to two of the city’s big heritage sites.
Walking and wildlife
The Kilmainham Inchicore Heritage Group runs a guided walk of roughly 3 km from Lansdowne Valley Park to Bow Bridge, following the river through Inchicore and Kilmainham. The ground is uneven and gently sloping in places, so wear sturdy footwear. Along the lower Camac you may see swallows, kingfishers and wintering waterfowl, with more life in the newly restored pools in spring. The lakes in Corkagh Park are stocked for coarse fishing.
Practical information
- Getting there: the Blackhorse, James’s and Heuston Luas stops give direct access to the central corridor; Heuston is a major rail hub.
- Parking: on-street parking near Corkagh and the Inchicore stretches is limited – public transport is the more reliable option.
- Flood safety: the lower Camac rises quickly in heavy rain. Stay on marked paths and off the concrete spillways, and check live alerts on the South Dublin County Council website before a wet-weather visit.
- Community and heritage: the Camac River Culture and Heritage Programme, launched in 2018 by Dublin City Council and the Local Authorities Water Programme, runs school outreach, talks, poetry competitions and guided walks. Contact CamacHeritage@dublincity.ie for updates.
The Camac offers no mountain views and makes no attempt to. What it gives is a layered walk – a monastic tower, a gunpowder-mill site, the country’s last castle moat – on a river slowly being handed back to nature. Check the Friends of the Camac website for restoration and event updates, and mind the crayfish-plague advice before you go near the water.