The second section from Lisburn to Lough Neagh includes a small amount of river navigation, but was largely built as a canal.

At its peak it was one of the most successful of the Irish canals,[1] but ultimately it was unable to compete with road and rail transport, and the two sections were closed in 1954 and 1958.

The River Lagan at Moira is only 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Lough Neagh, the largest inland lake in Britain and Ireland, and the terrain between the two is relatively flat.

Following the discovery of coal deposits in east Tyrone, which resulted in the construction of the Newry Canal, there was renewed interest, and in 1741 Arthur Dobbs, the Surveyor General, surveyed the route.

Another twelve years elapsed before a petition was presented to the Irish House of Commons, which resulted in an act of Parliament (27 Geo.

A formal opening took place in September, when the Lord Hertford, a 60-ton lighter, loaded with 45 tons of coal and timber, made the journey from Belfast to Lisburn.

were obtained in 1772 and 1774, to give additional powers to local commissioners, no real progress was made, and in 1779, the 'Company of Undertakers of the Lagan Navigation' was formed.

The Marquess of Donegall was the chief shareholder, and most other members were either landed gentry or drawn from the nobility, and so had considerable financial resources.

The Marquess of Donegall opened the canal on 1 January 1794, by travelling from Owen's house at Moira to Lough Neagh by boat.

3. c. ccxxxi), but the proposals to split the navigation channel from the river and to build a reservoir at Broadwater near Aghalee to supply the summit level were never implemented.

c. civ), to ensure that the canal was maintained in good order, but the Board of Public Works supervised its activities quite closely.

They successfully competed with the Ulster Railway, which had reached Portadown in 1842, and ploughed all profits back into improvements until 1859, when they announced a first dividend of one per cent.

Although they spent a great deal on improvements, the additional canals remained in a poor state and continued to make a loss.

There were large cargoes of sand and gravel travelling in the opposite direction, originating on the east Tyrone shores of Lough Neagh, and used for building projects in Belfast.

Rather than create an awkward political situation, where the Ministry of Commerce inherited canals that were already defunct, the government made payments to the company to cover operating losses and some repairs to the infrastructure.

[14] The Lagan Canal Restoration Trust was a logical development of this group, and was formed as a company limited by guarantee[15] in 2008[13] with representatives from the three councils which administer the areas through which the canal runs, and six other key partners, including the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, the Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure, and the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland.

It concluded that even though parts of the route have been destroyed by the building of the M1 motorway, there were no insurmountable barriers to restoring the canal, which "has the potential to become one of the most significant recreational waterways in these islands.

The scope was increased, to include restoration of the first 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) of the navigation, as far as Edenberrry, but despite the Ulster Garden Villages Trust offering £1 million to kick-start the project, little progress was made.

The cost has risen to £4 million, which has been provided by Belfast City Council, Ulster Garden Villages, and the Department for Intrastructure.