Slipway at the Newferry on the Bann

Image: © Cormac Duffin Taken: 15 Jul 2007

This slipway is at Newferry, the site for hundreds of years of a ferry across the river Bann just after it exits from Lough Beg. This photo is taken from the Antrim bank. Seen across the river is the public parking and picnic area on the London/Derry bank. The slipway at this point is operated by the Newferry Water Skiing Club (http://www.nwsc.co.uk/ ). Water skiing is very popular here on summer evenings and weekends. From the Ordnance Survey "Memoirs of Ireland" (1834): "Where the river first issues from Lough Beg, there is a ferry called the New ferry. A large flat-bottomed boat is employed here, capable of conveying a carriage and horses, half a dozen bullocks, or a score of sheep at once. It is not worked with oars: a chain is passed through bulkheads along the boat's gunwale and made fast at both sides of the river. 2 men pulling on this chain shoot the boat across the stream with ease. One end of the boat drops and forms a gangway by which a horse and cart can enter."

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