Dominican priest wanted to straighten Boyne

A GREAT idea from a Dominican priest (and it’s not Fr Jim Donleavy) came in 1878.

A bid to straighten the Boyne came from Rev. T. V. Burke, O.P. who was attached to the Dominican Priory until the time of his death in 1843.

In an attempt to help the poor people of the town he called a public meeting in the Mayoralty Rooms. He introduced plans which, had they been adopted, would have made Drogheda a different town today.

His plan for giving employment was to make the River Boyne straight by cutting a channel from Momington through the rabbit warrens to the sea and making good land of the foreshore between the river and Baltray.

Mr. St. George Smith attended that meeting and so approved of the scheme that he offered the loan of £40,000 to the town tosvards the cost of its realisation. But the idea met with many difficulties and never came to fruition.