Click here to see Lagan Maps	The waterways in Northern Ireland all revolve around, Lough Neagh, Ulster’s Inland Sea. The Lough is approximately 19 miles long and about 10 miles wide. It covers 149 square miles and has over 77 miles of shoreline. Five of the six counties touch its shoreline, Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone and L’derry.

The lough has a maximum depth of about 100 feet and an average depth of 31 feet. It is fed by the rivers Moyola, Main, Six Mile Water, Upper Bann and the Blackwater while the only outlet is the Lower Bann.

All of the canals of Ulster were connected to Lough Neagh with the exception of the Strabane Canal. The lough is the largest fresh water lake in the United Kingdom and has been the key to communications and travel throughout the North for centuries. Historical research shows the Vikings used the waterway as a means of penetrating inland. The canals which connected into Lough Neagh were the Newry Canal which effectively linked the town of Newry with Portadown and onwards to the Lough using the Upper Bann, the Ulster Canal which linked Lough Neagh with the West, Lough Erne and Enniskillen and the Lagan Canal which linked Lough Neagh with Belfast. There was also a smaller canal which linked the River Blackwater with Coalisland. The oldest summit canal in all of these islands is the Newry Canal, which dates back to 1742.

The Lagan stretches for 27 miles from Belfast to Lough Neagh. The Navigation is comprised of two distinct sections i.e. Belfast to Lisburn, and Lisburn to Lough Neagh. The first section of navigation, between Belfast and Lisburn utilised the River Lagan.  It includes short stretches of ‘still water’ canal cuts with associated weirs and locks to avoid obstacles in the natural river channel. The second section was a completely ‘still water’ canal section passing close to Moira, through Aghalee and on to Lough Neagh. The central section of the canal between Sprucefield and Moira was lost when the M1 Motorway was constructed in the 1960’s.

The Lagan towpath is open today for public use in three different sections: 1st, Stranmillis to Sprucefield; 2nd, Moira to Aghalee and 3rd, Crannagh Bridge, Aghagallon to Annadroughal Bridge, Aghagallon.

There are 17 locks in total along the Lagan navigation between Stranmillis and Lisburn as listed below:

Lock 3 under restoration June 2009

Lock 8 -  Ballyskeagh High Bridge, a rather majestic sandstone bridge, can be found nearby here.
Lock 9 – The industrial buildings adjacent to the lock, dominates the edge of the towpath where it meets Tullynacross Road. A bleach green was first established here between the river and canal in 1626.
Lock 10 – Here at Hilden the towpath approaches the tenth lock and crosses the road next to an old bridge.  Just beyond the bridge is the site of one of the last working mills in Ireland.
Lock 11 – Following a bend in the river the towpath passes the eleventh lock, known locally as Scott’s Lock.  At this point three water courses run parallel with each other, the river, the canal and the mill race.
Lock 12 – Known as Hanna’s Lock this was recently restored as part of the Lagan Valley Island Project.

Canoes in Lock 12 Lisburn