About this trail
The Lagan Navigation was a 27-mile (44km) waterway of river and canal, with 27 locks, built to carry grain, coal, sand, timber and linen between Belfast and Lough Neagh. Work began under engineer Thomas Omer in 1756; the line opened to Lisburn in 1763, reached Sprucefield and the Union Locks by 1768, arrived at Aghalee in 1792 and was finally completed through to Ellis' Gut on Lough Neagh, officially opening on 1 January 1794.
The Union Locks at Lisburn were the canal's only multiple-lock flight - four locks lifting boats 26 feet 4 inches from the River Lagan up to the summit level. They survive today as a site of real industrial archaeological interest at the Lisburn end of the route.
The Lagan Navigation Company was dissolved in 1954 and the western canal abandoned. Much of the line between Lisburn and Lough Neagh was later destroyed when it was used to form the foundation of the M1 motorway, begun in 1961. A full 29km Lisburn-to-Lurgan greenway along the old route has been proposed for the years ahead, but for now the Moira-to-Aghalee Broad Water remains the open western stretch.