Weir - fish

The National Monuments Service's description

Near the mouth of the Currane River in a pasture area to the S of Waterville House. According to Went (1974) there is 'a grant from James 1 dated 23rd February 1604 to Donnel or Donough McCarthye …… with a salmon weir on the Curane, rent £10.' According to local information, this is the original weir, with some later minor modifications, built on the Currane River. It consists of a curving, sloping, paved area (L c. 15m) across the river and three well-constructed piers (L c. 5m; Wth 3-3.8m), built with large semi-dressed blocks of stone and with rounded projections on both the upstream and downstream sides. The piers carry a wooden footbridge over the four down-sloping fish traps (Wth c. 1.5m), which are between the piers. According to the local informant, in the past the two middle fish traps were used to catch salmon for the owners of Waterville House and the fish were stored in a rectangular tank (4.2m x 2m) of water, which is no longer in use, on the N bank of the river. The fish trap on the S side was opened only from noon on Friday to noon on the following Monday to allow fish to get up to Lough Currane. The gate on the trap at the N side was normally closed and it was used to relieve floods. Fish counters and cameras are now used to track the movements of fish up and down the river and the fish traps are no longer closed.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Kerry. Volume I: South-West Kerry' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 30 May 2011