Ardnacrusha to Dublin Transmission Line and Mystery Engine House

Image courtesy Military Archives.

Just noticed the base of one of the pylons of the 110 kV line from Ardnacrusha to Dublin in the top left of this photo of Kilcullen Bridge from the military archives (Click on the link in the image caption to open the image viewer which has a zoom facility). Ardnacrusha hydro-electric power station was commissioned in 1929, and presumably the transmission line dated from then. The line was dismantled in the 60s or maybe early 70s? When the photo was taken, power was delivered directly from Newbridge/Kildare to Kilcullen at 10 kV and there's a transformer in Nugent's field for dropping voltage from that 10 kV to around 230 V. There was no substation in the town at the time, or at least when the last edition 6" OSI map shown was drafted. The map is post-1939 as the Nicholastown housing estate has been built. The 38 kV station at Sunnyhill we have now is fed from the 110 kV substation on the N81 near Stratford-on-Slaney.

The record in the archives at the link below also has an aerial view of the bridge looking south. On desktop/laptop, right click and open the image in a new tab to view at full size. There isn't a zoom facility in the viewer.
I still haven't found out what was housed in the "Engine Ho.", located approximately where Scoil Bhríde is now. A stationary engine for pumping water from a well for the convent? Or maybe a machine for making meal for feeding animals on the convent "farm"? Or did the convent have their own electricity and this was where the engine and generator was located? Maybe someone knows.

Image courtesy Tailte Éireann (OSI)