Broad Water
The Broad Water is a 3 mile (4.8km) towpath walk between Moira Railway Station and Aghalee and takes you along the route of the original Lagan Canal through Soldierstown. Keep an eye out for the large variety of breeding and wintering wildfowl.
Since the canal was officially abandoned in 1954 the banks have become overgrown and an array of colour is provided by a variety of trees, shrubs and wild flowers. Moira is unique as being the only town in Ireland to straddle two counties, County Down and County Armagh
The Broad Water is a man made feature, built in a natural valley in order to retain a sufficient head of water to accommodate the navigation. Take a seat and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature, set against the background of a thin belt of mature woodland!
County Down
Distance 3.2 miles
OS Map Sheet 20
Terrain Flat towpath
Nearest Town Moira Village
Route Shape Linear
Grid Reference J157618
Route Type Riverside
Begin walking from the entrance located in the car park of Moira Railway Station. Passing under the bridge that carries the railway line which was built in 1833, stop to have a look at the unusual “skew brickwork” used to add strength to the bridge and how the strain of the tow rope cut notches in the iron guard at the foot of the bridge. Further along after passing the car park and picnic tables at Soldierstown Car Park you come to a large expanse of water, known as the Broad Water. Look out for the Soldierstown Church up on your left, where the engineer responsible for the Lisburn-Lough Neagh section of the canal, Richard Owen, was buried in 1830. On reaching the top end of the main Broad Water you will see the former bank-ranger’s house however this is now privately owned. The final part of the walk will take you into the Village of Aghalee.
For those who wish to continue their journey towards Lisburn, then you can either take the train from Moira Railway Station or simply follow small country back roads, joining the towpath of the Lagan Valley Regional Park at Union Locks, Blaris Road, Lisburn.
Soldierstown Church & Graveyard
A pedestrian entrance to the Broad Water is available from the car of Moira Railway Station, Station Rd, Moira. A car park, picnic tables and link to the towpath are located at Soldierstown Car Park on the Soldierstown Road approximately midway between the villages of Moira and Aghalee. In addition the route can also be accessed in Aghalee Village from Soldierstown Road.
Translink – journeyplanner.translink.co.uk
Dogs must be kept under close control
Car parking available at Soldierstown. Refreshments available in Moira. The following facilities are available for users with limited mobility: – Disabled parking.
Grade 4
- The path may not be hard and firm in all weathers with loose stones (not bigger than 10cm) with occasional tree roots and pot holes and will be at least 80cm wide for its entire length.
- The path gradients and cross slopes will be greater than 6°.
- Obstacles such as steps or stiles are to be expected and surface breaks may be larger 75mm in width.
- There will be a clear head height of greater than 2.10m for the entire length of the route.
- Passing places and rest areas may not be formalised or provided.
Comments will be reviewed and those that cause offence will be removed. This is at the discretion of WalkNI.
We want everyone to be able to enjoy the walking routes listed on WalkNI safely and easily.
If you have come across any problems whilst walking a route, please let us so we can pass on any issues to the appropriate management body responsible for maintaining the walk.
Walk Route
Broad Water
Lovely walk with plenty of wildlife and native plants including lilys and bulrushes. I have to echo the other reviews about the dog poo, its ridiculous and disgusting the amount of bags just left on the path or thrown in the hedges.
Bin provision isnt great (there are a couple at each end of the walk) but if these sefish dog owners can manage to bring their dogs back home, then they can surely bring their poop home too and put in their bin.
We love this walk! We have been lucky enough to go at times when it’s reasonably quiet. Great place to walk the dogs and take in the beautiful scenery and wildlife! If only people would be sensible and pick up and dispose of dog poo! There is a lack of bins in the area. We carry ours, which is not ideal but a few bins along the route would help to encourage people to pick it up! We normally park in the Soldierstown Road as it is convenient for us. We have found that it is difficult to see both directions when leaving the car park. The road is quite narrow and very close to the small bridge. Perhaps if a mirror was installed it could reduce the risk of an accident. All in all it is a lovely place to visit and enjoy!
We had a group of 17 from Bangor on this walk today. Beautiful weather and frozen canal and Broadwater. BUT the path was ruined by lots of dog poo. We even saw a woman lift the poo in a bag and leave the tied bag on the grass. We also saw another open one beside a bench on which was sprinkled bird seed. There are NO bins on the walk apart from a couple of LITTER bins at the Moira end and another at the Aghalee end. Plenty of signs saying lift your dog poo but wouldn’t it be sensible to put a bin on the same pole?. So disappointing. Come on Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Council Clean up your area!