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FOREWARD
The Grey Stones
The Fishing Hamlet
The La Touche Estate
The Burnaby Estate
The Coming of the Railway
1864 - 1889
1889 - 1914
1914 - 1939
1939 - 1964
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FOREWARD

The year 1964 marks the Centenary of St. Patrick's Church, Greystones, which was consecrate for public worship on 19th July 1864.

When it was decided to produce a Centenary Booklet it was inevitable that Mr. Samuel French should be asked to undertake the task. No one is better qualified to trace the history of Greystones during the past one hundred years, and indeed from earlier times.

As the booklet began to take shape it was felt that it should take the form of a historical survey of Greystones rather than a parish history. We are deeply grateful to Mr. French for the considerable amount of work that the publication of this booklet has entailed for him. He has also been responsible for the illustrations.

Our thanks are due to the Rev. A. McNab for the historical note on the Presbyterian Church in Greystones.

We are most grateful to Miss E. Morphy, Major-General F. M. Moore and Mr. J. R. Sleath, who read the preliminary draft and made several valuable suggestions.

This book should appeal not only to our parishioners and residents of Greystones, but also to our many visitors.


THE GREY STONES

Greystones is built on a group of rocks, which protrude into the sea two miles south of Bray Head in the County of Wicklow. These are Cambrian rocks whose formation is contemporaneous with the dawn of life on earth, and they are marked on the old maps as ‘The Grey Stones”. The northern end of this group of rocks afforded the only shelter for fishing boats between Bray Head and Wicklow Head, but only in early times was there no town, not even a village. The fishermen lived in dwellings scattered as far apart as Windgates and Delgany, Killincarrick and Blacklion.

The townlands of Upper and Lower Rathdown and Killincarrick comprise all the land lying between Bray Head and the Three Trout River, which enters the sea at Ballygannon and forms a boundary between the Barony of Rathdown and the Barony of Newcastle. The Barony of Rathdown extends as far north as the Merrion Gates, Dublin and from the sea to the watershed of the Dublin and the Wicklow hills and coincides with the Old Irish territory of Cualann of Crich Cualann.

At the coming of the Normans this was the territory of the MacGillamoholmoc (pronounced Maclamogue), a son-in-law of the King of Leinster. It was he who, in 1171, when the Normans and Danes were fighting for the Danish City of Dublin, agreed to stand aside until either party gave way and then to join the victors. His territories were excluded from the grant of Leinster made by King Henry the Second to Strongbow, and were retained as a royal demesne, the MacGillamoholmoc becoming a tenant in capita holding directly to the King.

Half way between Bray Head and Greystones an ancient road, locally known as Ennis’s Lane, leads from Windgates to the sea. In this lane near the ruins of an old lime kiln is the site of the castle of Rathdown, one of the strongholds of the early owners of the territory or barony of Rathdown. No doubt a hamlet sprang up under the shelter of the castle walls, for it is recorded in the Down Survey (1657) that there were ten cottages. The ruins of a church stand in a field nearby and are known as St. Crispins Cell to whom it was dedicated. Canon Scott, in his “Stones of Bray”, suggests that this church was a private chapel attached to the castle.

In the centuries that followed the Norman invasion the O’Byrnes were lords of the coast from Bray to Wicklow and inland to the mountains, their stronghold being Glenmalure. The O”Tooles having been dispossessed of their lands in Kildare crossed the mountains, took Glendalough and disputed the territory with the O”Byrnes and with the English settlers in Dublin. Bray Head and the lands lying to the south of it became the southern limit of the pale. Shortly after 1536, in the reign of King Henry the Eight, the castle of Rathdown, with other lands in the vicinity, were granted to Peter Talbot, a noted defender of the pale. In 1618 Kilruddery was granted to Sir William Brabazon, who became Lord Ardee on the death of his father, and was afterwards created the first Earl of Meath.

It is stated that Rathdown Castle was probably in ruins when Bernard Talbot succeeded to it in 1622 and it was certainly so at the date of the Down Survey (1637). Following the 1641 rebellion, the English Civil War and the operations of Oliver Cromwell in Ireland, the lands of Upper and Lower Rathdown were redistributed at the Restoration. By deed of grant, dated 16th August, 1666, the lands of Rathdown inter alia were granted to Richard Edwards, a Welshman and to his wife, Elizabeth Edwards and continued in the possession of their descendents until they were purchased by the La Touche Family. The titles of the present La Touche and Burnaby Estates are rooted in these grants and letters patent of King Charles the Second.


THE FISHING HAMLET

While Rathdown and its castle fell into decay, Greystones became known as a fishing hamlet. In the “Topographia Hibernica” of 1795 it is stated that “Greystones is a noted fishing village four miles beyond Bray..The herrings first brought into Dublin are usually taken by the fishing boats of this place”. In 1801 Robert Fraser writes, “At Greystones I found a fine natural harbour and an excellent roadstead (i.e. between Bray Head and Greystones at a distance of half a mile from the shore) for ships of any burden from fishing vessels to the largest frequenting the seas”. Wright’s Guide to Wicklow 1834 speaks of Greystones as a small fishing hamlet with a preventive water guard stationed there (located at Blacklion) and seven families residing in the place, all employed fishing.

Between the years of 1849 and 1868 thirty-six yawls were registered as being in the ownership of local men, employing on the average five men each, a total of one hundred and eighty. These boats were usually twenty to twenty-five feet long with a mast and two sails supplemented by oars. Five or six were larger boats, forty feet long, lugger rigged.

Many of them were built in Greystones by local shipwrights who gained a reputation for building lucky boats. These men in the larger boats went as far as Kinsale to meet the fish as they came in form the Atlantic and followed them north as far as Kilkeel, County Down and Greystones fishermen were well known in Peel, Isle of Man. As they filled their boats they made fro the nearest market. It was to encourage this industry that a jetty was built at the north end of the Grey Stones, a little more than a Century ago.

The first ordnance survey of the district was made in 1838. It shows one road leading from Blacklion to the sea north of the Grey Stones. There are only four large houses on sites at present occupied by Bethel, Wavecrest, Upton and one other house on the present site of Bayswater. There are about ten cottages scattered over the adjoining fields, one of which is marked “Schoolhouse”. There is also a bohereen leading from Blacklion to the site of Knockdolian, where it turned south and gave access to the fields on the eastern slopes of Jones Hill, now known as Hillside Farm, but no farm buildings are shown. A path led along the banks above the rocks to the south beach where, at the site of the new car park, there was a coal yard. At that time coal vessels anchored off shore and the coal was discharged into barges.

Many of them were built in Greystones by local shipwrights who gained a reputation for building lucky boats. These men in the larger boats went as far as Kinsale to meet the fish as they came in form the Atlantic and followed them north as far as Kilkeel, County Down and Greystones fishermen were well known in Peel, Isle of Man. As they filled their boats they made fro the nearest market. It was to encourage this industry that a jetty was built at the north end of the Grey Stones, a little more than a Century ago.

The first ordnance survey of the district was made in 1838. It shows one road leading from Blacklion to the sea north of the Grey Stones. There are only four large houses on sites at present occupied by Bethel, Wavecrest, Upton and one other house on the present site of Bayswater. There are about ten cottages scattered over the adjoining fields, one of which is marked “Schoolhouse”. There is also a bohereen leading from Blacklion to the site of Knockdolian, where it turned south and gave access to the fields on the eastern slopes of Jones Hill, now known as Hillside Farm, but no farm buildings are shown. A path led along the banks above the rocks to the south beach where, at the site of the new car park, there was a coal yard. At that time coal vessels anchored off shore and the coal was discharged into barges.


THE LA TOUCHE ESTATE

When David La Touche, the Dublin Banker and Member of the Irish Parliament, purchased the Ballydonagh Estate at Delgany in 1753 he built a residence facing east on a gentle slope between five and six hundred feet above sea level. It was a Georgian building faced with red brick, with granite plinth and cornice and a granite portico with four lonic columns somewhat undersize and a flight of three granite steps leading to a wide terrace with a granite balustrade. From this terrace a magnificent view delighted the eye. In the foreground a well-wooded park with chestnut, oak, beech and ash, beyond which stretched out to the sea Upper and Lower Rathdown and Killincarrick, while away to the right lay Kilcool, Newcastle and Wicklow Head. As a background the St. George’s Channel glitters in the morning sun with an unbroken view of the horizon. Little wonder that Mr. La.Touche named his new country residence Bellevue.

He died there in 1785 at the age of 81 and was buried at Delgany. His son, Peter La Touche, who succeeded to the Bellevue Estate, built the present church at Delgany, which contains a celebrated piece of sculpture by Hickey to the memory of David La Touche.

Some time prior to 1791 Peter La Touche purchased the townlands of Upper and Lower Rathdown, and in that year settled those lands on his nephew, Peter La Touche the younger, and his heirs in tail male. He died on the 26th November 1828. Peter La Touche the younger married the Honourable Charlotte Maude. They had twelve children, nine boys and three girls. The eight son they named appropriately Octavius. W hen Peter La Touche the younger died on 11th February 1830, he was succeeded by his son, Peter David La Touche, who died on 17th February 1856, at the early age of 47. He was succeeded by his brother, William Robert La Touche, and it was under his ownership that Greystones started to develop.


THE BURNABY ESTATE

In 1801 Admiral Lord St. Vincent was First Lord of the Admiralty, and faced the threat of a French invasion by Napoleon, who has massed huge forces at Boulogne. Lord Nelson was called upon to organise the English defence, and a certain Admiral Whitshed became responsible for the defence of Dublin and district. It was under him that the Martello towers were built at vantage points along the coast. He appears to have married into the Hawkins family who owned lands of Killincarrick and other adjoining townlands.

His son, Captain Sir St. Vincent Bentinck Hawkins Whitshed, succeeded and lived in the family residence, then situated at the Farm House, now the residence of the steward to the Burnaby Estate. It is rumored that a friendly rivalry existed between the breezy naval officer and his neighbour, the courteous gentleman, Mr. La Touche. The family subsequently built a new residence, which is now the Woodlands Hotel.

When Captain Whitshed died he left no male heir and only one daughter, Elizabeth Hawkins Whitshed, a minor and his heiress-at-law, who became a ward of the Lord Chancellor. On the 25th June, 18798, at the age of eighteen, she married Colonel Fred Burnaby of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, the Blues. At the wedding she was given away by her cousin, Arthur Bentinck, later Duke of Portland. Colonel Burnaby was a celebrity, politician, author, balloonist and traveler. The bride’s Irish tenantry gave her a magnificent silver service as a wedding gift.

Colonel Burnaby paid one short visit to Killincarrick House, but never returned. Unfortunately Mrs. Burnaby developed lung trouble, and had to live abroad for the sake of her health. She was able, however, to return home for the birth of her first and only child, Harry St. Vincent Augustus Burnaby, but soon was compelled to take up residence in Switzerland where she lived for many years.

As young Mr. Burnaby grew up, he too developed lung trouble and was compelled to seek dry climate. He lived and died in California.

So it was that the Whitshed Estate became to be known as the Burnaby Estate and hence the names of the roads subsequently laid out on the Burnaby Estate – St. Vincent Road, Whitshed Road, Burnaby Road and Portland Road.

Colonel Burnaby was killed in action in the advance to Omdurman on the 22nd January 1885. Mrs. Burnaby subsequently recovered her health, and married the Reverend J. Main, and on his death Mr. Le Blond, whose estates were situated in the south of France. She gained a considerable reputation as an alpinist and author and lived to a good age. She was succeeded by her son, but he did not long survive her.


THE COMING OF THE RAILWAY

It was the building of the railway in the years 1854 to 1856 that put Greystones on the map. In 1835 the Dublin and Kingstown railway was opened. Later it was extended to Dalkey and then to Bray where the engineers came up against the obstacle of Bray head.

Brunel, the celebrated engineer, was called in for consultation, and under his direction a single line, with several tunnels was constructed and continued round the Head and south as far as Wicklow. The building of the railway station on the boundary of the La Touche and Whitshed Estates indicates a judgment of Solomon, or at least a compromise between rival claims.

It followed that with the coming of the Railway Greystones was placed within easy reach of Dublin, and would form an attractive seaside resort in the summer season. The La Touche Estate laid out two main roads, one leading from the Greystones pier to the railway station, the other running due north west from the railway station to meet the old road from Blacklion to the harbour.

In anticipation of the rising town our church was built in 1857 by private subscription, a large share of the cost, some £1,500, having been borne by the La Touche family, who had presented the site, but it had no endowment to support a Rector and remained unconsecrated until 1864. On the 19th day of July of that year His Grace the Most Reverend Richard Chenevix Trench D.D. Archbishop of Dublin, consecrated the church. The Archbishop’s registrar, John Samuels, having read the petition for consecration and the consent of His Grace given thereto, a procession was formed and the service of consecration proceeded

With the reading of the twenty-forth Psalm, the pronouncing of the service of consecration, the signing of the necessary deed and concluded with the Holy Communion. During his visitation His Grace was entertained by Mr. La Touche at Bellevue. The chancel windows are a memorial to Peter David La Touche, who died on the 17th January 1857, aged 47. The side lights bear the La Touche arms.

The ordnance survey sheet of 1864-70 shows the new roads and the church standing alone in the fields. The only house in Church Road was Southview, where the Northern Bank now has its branch office. Proceeding from Greystones pier along the road leading to the railway station you passed the” Coffee Palace” where the post office was established, then Bethel Terrace, Brighton House, Cool-na-Griena and the Retreat Between the Retreat and the roadway stood a terrace of cottages comprising the coastguard station, now known as Kenmare Terrace. After passing Emily House and Sweet Briar Cottage you came to the railway bridge, where the road bore left past the schoolhouse, now the teacher’s residence, to meet Church Road at Mountainview. On the seafront 1 and 2 Clifton Terrace adjoined Upton. After Cliff Cottage came two new houses, East and West House, now combined and enlarged into Carrig Eden.

There were no other houses on the seafront apart from two small cottages. So Greystones stood ready for development.


1864-1889

The first twenty-five years from the consecration of the church 1864-1889, was the period during which most of the houses on Church Road and Trafalgar Road were built. A road from Trafalgar Road to the station on the seaside was constructed to connect with another new road along the seafront. The diagonal road from the railway bridge to the station on the west side was abandoned, and La Touche Place was made, joining Church Road at Doyle’s corner. All this is shown on the ordnance sheet of 1885. As the town developed and attracted a considerable number of summer visitors it became necessary to enlarge the Church. In 1875 the north transept was built and in 1888 the south transept was added. Finally, in 1898, the nave was extended and the gallery erected. In 1880 a new schoolhouse fronting La Touche Place became necessary, whereupon the old school became the teachers residence.

This development was principally the work of local men, who had been fishermen until that industry failed. Accordingly, in Autumn, Winter and Spring, they employed themselves building but when Summer

Came the call of the sea was too strong and they stole away to the boats. There was good trade to be done providing pleasure boats for the visitors and teaching them to fish for plaice, mackerel and Pollock with hand lines and long lines. The fishermen also fished from the shore with seine nets whenever the fish cane in shoals.

Meanwhile the single railway line round the Head was proving to be a source of considerable expense. Rock falls from above and subsidence necessitated the building of buttresses and retaining walls and constant supervision to ensure the safety of passengers. In August, 1867, the ten o’clock Wexford train was caught by a sudden subsidence and plunged down into the sea. Fortunately the engine came to rest in the water and the carriages remained upright. The fireman lost his life, but no passengers were injured. The earliest help to reach the scene of the accident was brought by the boats from Greystones, the fishermen having seen from the pier that something was wrong. The subsidence necessitated the building of a new tunnel, and the site of the accident can be seen from the train as it nears the former tunnel, now disused. During the past century there has been considerable erosion by the sea between Greystones and Bray Head and south of Greystones at Ballygannon point. Before 1900 the land on the sea side of the railway line, as originally made was washed away and the line had

To be shifted in about forty feet and a new bridge constructed where Ennis’s Lane gave access to the north beach. The old railway arch stood on the beach until it was undermined and collapsed about ten years ago. Blocks of masonry are still to be seen. Gradually the sea is creeping around the new bridge north and south and it too will cease to exist. In 1917 a new tunnel was opened bringing the line inland a further hundred yards. This new tunnel is three quarter’s of a mile long and is the second longest railway tunnel in Ireland, the longest being that which leads to Cork City.

The erosion, which started where the rock of Bray Head gave way to sand, worked its way south until it threatened a row of houses built along the north beach on the sea road. Attempts were made by building a wall to halt the action of the sea but south easterly gales and spring tides were not to be halted. Soon the wall was undermined and great was the fall thereof. Following this the road and the front gardens of the cottages were washed away. In 1928 a violent storm threatened to undermine the walls of the cottages and the inhabitants had no alternative but to accept Father Neptune’s notice to quit and vacate their homes. Over thirty houses were affected and new houses were provided at Blacklion with government grants in aid. Several of these new homes bear the names of the house, which originally stood on the north beach road.

Only three houses remain together with the short piece of the old road, which serves them.

South of Greystones a battle with sea erosion has also been waged. At Ballygannon Point whole fields have been swallowed up by the sea. In an attempt to stem the tide a wooden palisade with groynes was built along the south beach, but fifty years ago only the remains of groynes and posts showed it’s position, and now it is completely obliterated. Soon the railway line was without any protection from the sea and was repeatedly washed away. In order to break the force of the waves tons off large stones were placed between the sea beach and the railway line and cement blocks chained together, have repeatedly placed where stones have been washed away. The railway sleepers have been set in concrete, but the sea still continues to threaten the line and to cut communications as it hurls stones and sand onto it and into the fields beyond. All should be thankful for the Grey Stones, which alone can withstand the violence of the sea.

Towards the close of this first twenty-five years the fishermen and residents agitated for the building of a harbour to foster their fishing industry, to provide for direct importation of coal and Bangor slates to provide amenities for visitors keen on boating and fishing.

Between 1885 and 1897 the Commissioners of Public Works constructed at a cost of £20,678 14s. 8d:

1. A concrete pier 200 feet long measured on the wharf coping and 35 feet wide exclusive of the parapet. Two flights of steps were provided in the wharf and six mooring posts.

2. A concrete boat slip 156 feet long or thereabouts and 20 feet wide.

3. An inner dock for small boats around which the approach road to the pier was diverted.

4. A concrete groyne 345 feet long or thereabouts.

Shortly after the pier was built it was evident that the harbour afforded no safety. Its entrance faced north northeast from which point our storms came, so that heavy swells roll right into the harbour to the danger of the boats moored to the wharf or anchored there, and in the face of the gale they were trapped and could not put to sea to ride out the storm. So it was that on 14th day of October 1892, a storm arose and three men went on the pier to cast off the moorings of a schooner, ‘The Mersey’, so that she could be beached. As they were returning a monster wave broke over the parapet and the three of them were swept into the harbour and drowned before the eyes of their fellow townsmen. This tragedy put all Greystones into mourning as nearly every inhabitant was related to the victims of the disaster.

Again in October 1911 three schooners, the ‘Vellenhellie’, the ‘Reciprocity’, and the ‘ Federation’ were moored in the harbour when an unexpected storm arose. They had to be scuttled or run ashore and were all wrecked, the crews being rescued by the rocket apparatus. Since that event no marine insurance could be obtained for boats coming to Greystones and the pier was left to the tender mercy of the sea. Despite the efforts to encourage it, the tide had set in against the local fishing industry, which was unable to compete with the steam trawlers landing their catches much nearer to the Dublin markets. Meanwhile Greystones was developing from a fishing hamlet to a seaside resort and Greystones men turned from the sea to become tradesmen and builders for whose services a demand had risen.

Formerly St Killian’s Roman Catholic Church at Blacklion served Greystones. It was also built in 1864. At the turn of the century a site was acquired for the present church in Greystones and a temporary building was blown down in the great wind which swept Ireland in 1903 and was never re-elected, but immediately the building of the present church was put in hand and it was consecrated in 1909

One result of the Potato Famine in 1846-47 was that a considerable number of Scottish settlers came to Ireland. This led to the provision of Presbyterian places of worship where the immigrants would feel at home in a form of service, which they had been accustomed.

Kilpeddar was one such a place where a Presbyterian service was provided and a mission station created. This station was opened in 1851 and it formed the ‘mother church’ from which the congregation in Greystones developed. The work in Kilpeddar was closely associated with the name of the Clark family of Tinna Park. It was not until thirty-four years later that work began in Greystones among Presbyterians, and even then, for two years, only summer services were provided. In 1885 Mr. W. L. La Touche generously gave a free site for the church. While money was being raised for the building, services for Presbyterian visitors were held in the schoolhouse during the summer of 1885. During the following summer, services were held in a large tent. In 1887 the present church was built and opened. The congregation has gone from strength to strength and the church building has been extended by the addition of transepts to accommodate the increasing number of visitors.

A Third Protestant denomination is the Assembly of Plymouth Brethren who worships in Ebenezer Hall on Hillside Road.


1889 - 1914

The second twenty-five years 1889-1914 subdivides into eleven years to the turn of the century which saw the completion of the development of the La Touche estate, and the first fourteen years of the present century, which saw the development of the Burnaby Estate. We have, therefore, two styles of architecture, the La Touche Estate in the Victorian style built for summer visitors and the Burnaby in the Edwardian style with houses built for permanent residence.

During the whole of this period our main mode of transport was the railway. Motor cars were as yet in the experimental stage, proceeding in clouds of dust with much blowing of horns and frequent breakdowns. At night thick darkness brooded over our streets until in 1910 a local company was formed and an electric power house was erected in the Hillside Road, which continued to serve the town until taken over by the Electricity Supply Board.

For nine months of the year the ‘City Fathers’ met each morning at 7am in the men’s bathing place for a morning plunge before breakfast at 8am and catching the 8.45am train to Dublin. Those who missed this train had to join the Wexford train at 10am, which usually ran late.

“It is impossible,” it was said, “to be late for the ten o’clock train”! For local transport a number of Carmen provided carriages known as vis-à-vis and side cars, which awaited the arrival of the trains at the railway station.

During the first decade of the present century most of the houses in Greystones were built by the owners for summer letting and remained shut up from the end of September until spring. Then the inhabitants were busy getting ready for the season, which opened, on 1st of June. The letting months were June, July, August and September. Then on a summer evening men in dinner jackets, and ladies in evening dress, strolled on the seafront until approaching darkness and evening chill warned that it was time to retire indoors. It was then that the boys saw the girls home, for papas were very strict and all the family had to be in before dark. On the south beach a row of bathing boxes catered for the ladies and here mothers and daughters spent the morning until lunch time. In the afternoons a drive in the Glen of the Downs or a walk to the top of Little Sugar Loaf were popular, although some were taking up a comparatively new pastime and played golf on the new course on the slopes of Jones’s Hill.

Life was very calm and peaceful to the very eve of the outbreak of the First World War. The 4th August 1914 was a day of cloudless sunshine.


1914-1939

In the third quarter of the century 1914-1939 Greystones, as elsewhere, reacted to the great tragedy of the First World War and to the uneasy peace, which succeeded it. Many of our parishioners, whose names are recorded on our war memorial, gave their lives to resist the German aggression. On the 15th September 1918, the schooner “Joseph Fisher” owned by Mr. W. H. Dann, of the Beach, Greystones, and bound for Wicklow with a cargo of 142 tons of coal from Garston, was sunk by an enemy submarine fifteen miles east of the Codling lightship. The crew of four drifted in an open boat for sixteen hours until they were rescued off “The Chickens”, Isle of Man, and landed at Peel.

Building and development come to a halt in war, and war continues its restrictive effects until it is paid for. Although Greystones was not involved to a great extent during the 1921-22 disturbances and changes in government, it adapted itself as best it could to the events of the times.


1939 - 1964

So we come to the last twenty-five years. Once again the world was overshadowed by the greater tragedy of the Second World War, the effects of which are only beginning to wear off. A second war memorial commemorates those who gave their lives again to resist German aggression.

Meanwhile, the railway has ceased to be the sole means of transport for Greystones residents. When motor cars became general and reliable and a bus service linked Greystones with the City of Dublin, the public ceases to use the railway. Already it is closed to goods traffic and may eventually be closed to passenger traffic, unless the residents give it more support. The harbour having ceased to serve any commercial purpose has fallen into decay. The groyne has gone. About one-third of the pier has been washed away. The boat slip and the dock alone remain. Nevertheless, within the last ten years a considerable amount of work has been well done to render the remains of the pier safe, and to make the seafront attractive to visitors without destroying its natural charm. Greystones has become a residential suburb. Every house is occupied all year round. Our visitors are now catered for in the hotels, the Carrig Eden holiday home at Cool-na-Griena.

At the week-ends the citizens of Dublin line the entire front in their motor cars, where they can view the sea without the necessity of getting out! There has been a revival of fishing from the pier and form the beach, but the mackerel have ceased to come to Greystones, or at least, not a regularly or in the quantity that they used to do.

Times change and we change with the times, yet Greystones retains much of its natural beauty and attractiveness. For this reason many of our permanent residents are retired, the battle of life over, and their work done. Here without undue noise and fuss they can husband out life’s taper by repose and, if the motorists would only observe the thirty mile speed limit which governs the whole built up area, their chances of survival are pretty good!

For the young there are the attractions of the swimming club and tennis courts and for all ages the golf course. Our Parochial Hall provides a Centre for parish activities-badminton-tennis-theatricals and entertainments-and is much appreciated. The mildness of the climate, which compares very favourably with Bournemouth and Nice, permits such delicate plants as fuchsia and ivy geraniums to grow out of doors.

Our gardens, except where they are exposed to winter storms and easterly winds, show a profusion of flowers. People with young families have to leave Greystones to be nearer schools and university, but it is to be noted that when the chicks are finally fledged and leave the nest, the parent couple return to take up residence here. Almost our entire working population gains their livelihood in the City of Dublin. Greystones never was a business town.

Within the past ten years both the La Touche and Burnaby Estates have been further developed and considerable building is at present in hand or projected. All these new buildings are modern bungalows, and it is hoped that this further development, while admitting a considerable increase in our population, will not detract from the present and peaceful residential atmosphere, which affords enjoyable relaxation from the busy life of the city.