The River Cammock

The Camac is an artificial tributary of the River Liffey, that rises in Mount Seskin near the village of Saggart and just above Bohernabreena. As it flows and unites with other tributaries to form the Brittas River at the boundary of Wicklow and Kildare. The Aughafarrell dam splits some of the waters towards Saggart where it was known as the Slade More. As it passed through various towns it took on different names. 

The River Cammock (Camac) flows from from the southwest to the northeast of Dublin meandering through Saggart, Citywest, Clondalkin, Drimnagh’s Lansdowne Valley and under the Grand Canal to Goldenbridge North. It travels further northeast along the southern wall of Old Kilmainham Jail towards Rowerstown Lane, into Bow Lane and underneath Kingsbridge Station (Post 1922: Heuston Station) to meet the River Liffey. In the 1800’s it provided water supply to a number of mills situated along its course. 

It was not known as the Cammock until 1836 when a group of mill owners took a legal case against a Mr. Bennett, alleging that attempted to prevent the diversion of the water to the artificial Cammock unless he received compensation. The men who first dug the artificial channel were paid their wages in Cammock Halfpence which were in circulation in circa 1792. 

By 1887, the sewage problem was partially resolved when Richmond Barracks built a new sewage channel to discharge into the Camac. The Town Commissioners, however, were blocked from discharging the towns’ effluence into the Camac, and when they proposed constructing a channel under the river to discharge further downstream into the Liffey, they were blocked by local millowners.