Greystones

Greystones is located south of the site of an ancient castle of the Barony of Rathdown. There was a hamlet which, like Rathdown Castle, was known as Rathdown, and which appeared on a 1712 map. This site occupied an area now known as the Grove, north of Greystones harbour, but only the ruins of a chapel, St. Crispin's Cell, survive. Greystones is a much more recent settlement and is first mentioned in Topographia Hibernica, a 1795 publication. Here it is described as a "noted fishing place four miles beyond Bray."

DART train at Greystones Station

In the early 19th century, there were some families scattered around the harbour, Blacklion, Windgates, Killincarrig and Rathdown. Delgany was a more substantial and longer-established village. However, Greystones was put on the map with the coming of the railway in 1855, a difficult undertaking which was performed in consultation with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the famous engineer. The railway station was built on the line dividing the properties of two landowners: the La Touche family of Bellevue House (now in ruins, near Delgany), and the Hawkins-Whitshed family of Killincarrig House (which is now Greystones Golf Club). It provided links with Bray and Dublin and left room for development on the adjoining estates.

Elizabeth Hawkins-Whitshed (better known as Lizzie Le Blond) owned the Hawkins-Whitshed estate from 1871 and she developed Ireland's first planned housing estate, an area currently known as the Burnaby. Lizzie was a trailblazing mountaineer and explorer, a photographer, an author of mountaineering books, fiction, travel writing and a filmmaker. She donated for a nominal rent the site upon which the library in Greystones is built. Her first marriage to Frederick Gustavus Burnaby was short-lived and he is only known to have visited Wicklow once/ However the area is still given his surname. An adjoining estate to that of Elizabeth Hawkins-Whitshed was owned by the La Touche Family. It was during the time William Robert La Touche owned the estate that Greystones' developed rapidly. To the north of the station, Church Road, Victoria Road and Trafalgar Road were laid out, and many houses were built. In the early 20th century, the Burnabys began to expand the town on their side of the station, and the roads and houses of the Burnaby were developed and the population grew considerably. The names of these two families remain well known today, with many roads and housing estates bearing their names.

Between 1885 and 1897, the people of Greystones campaigned for a harbour to aid the fishing industry and imports such as coal. The original pier, dock, sea wall and boat slip remained pre-2009 but had endured substantial damage. In the early 20th century, the town felt the effects of coastal erosion (which is still a major problem); the loss of fields and most of the houses on the North Beach Road, and the costly inland relocation of the railway have all resulted. In 1968, the old Kish lighthouse foundation was added to the end of the pier.

At the end of World War II, cars and petrol became widely available, allowing Greystones to gradually expand, filling in space between itself and outlying areas such as Blacklion, Killincarrig and Delgany. However, the popularity of the railway declined; its very existence being in jeopardy during the 1980s, as government cutbacks reduced the service to just a few trains per day. The 1990s brought a revival with the arrival of the electrified DART from Bray, and a much more frequent schedule.

Greystones panorama

Greystones Harbour

Greystones has experienced a huge increase in its population since the 1970s with the construction of mainly large housing estates. The first of these periods lasted for around a decade seeing the development of estates like Hillside, Applewood Heights, Redford Park and many other smaller ones like Burnaby Park. The second boom in construction came during the Celtic Tiger period of the early 2000s which saw developments such as Charlesland (the biggest) just south of the town, which includes over 1,000 dwelling units. Following the 2008 financial crisis little development took place, evident in the difference between the 2011 census and the 2016 census; an increase of only 1000. This is compared to previous increases like 2006 showing 3000–4000 in growth. Other projects such as the harbour redevelopment stalled or completely halted during this time period.

As of 2018, Greystones was experiencing a housing boom. A number of large-scale developments were taking place, mainly on the western fringes of the town, in the harbour area and around Charlesland. The main schemes included Seagreen and Waverly in Blacklion, Glenheron beside Charlesland and Marina village at the harbour.[4] These equate collectively to over 1000 dwellings under construction. There are also multiple other similar schemes approved or pending approval.[5][6] Greystones is the only town in County Wicklow with this scale of growth. These new developments resulted in a population increase of almost 4000 between 2016 and 2022.[1]

As of the 2022 census the population of Greystones town stood at 22,009, making it the second largest town in the county after Bray. In 2016, the Greystones Municipal District Population stood at 26,323.[7]

Wicklow County Council and Greystones Municipal District Council plan for at least 24,000 by 2028 in the town itself.

Along with the housing developments, road networks and facilities have been "improved" to cater for the growth. The road between Greystones and Bray has been slightly widened and realigned. A dual carriageway link road (R774) connecting Greystones to the N11 has been completed to the south of the town. Construction of a full interchange with the N11 has also been completed. Chapel Road has been connected with Blacklion Manor Road forming a new section of wide higher capacity road from the junction at Lidl to the junction with the top of Applewood Heights, creating a complete bottleneck at Delgany village. Estates like Seagreen access from this road.

According to the 2016 census, Greystones has the largest Church of Ireland presence as a proportion of the population (8.2%) anywhere in the country, has the largest proportion of Protestants overall (10.5%), and is the least religious town in the country (18.3% 'no religion').

Greystones is part of the Wicklow Dáil constituency and the South European Parliament constituency. Two of Wicklow's five TDs are based in Greystones; Simon Harris (FG) and Jennifer Whitmore (SD).

In local government, the Greystones local electoral area (LEA) elects six councillors to Wicklow County Council who sit as Greystones Municipal District. This LEA also includes the neighbouring villages of Delgany, Kilcoole and Newcastle Lower[10]

The following councillors represent the Greystones local electoral area:[11]

In 1984, Greystones was granted town commissioners.[12] This became a town council in 2002.[13] All town councils in Ireland were abolished in 2014.[14]

Holy Rosary Catholic Church

Greystones has a variety of Christian denominations in the locality, with most divisions of mainstream Christianity represented. There is a Roman Catholic,[27] a Presbyterian,[28] a Church of Ireland,[29] an Evangelical,[30] and an Evangelical Arminian[31] church in Greystones.

Carraig Eden Theological College is the premier Pentecostal centre for theological study and ministerial training in Ireland, offering BTh and MTh degrees in Applied Theology[32]

The majority of residents are Catholic; however, Greystones has the largest Church of Ireland presence as a proportion of the population (8.2%) anywhere in the country, has the largest proportion of Protestants overall (10.5%), and is the least religious town in the country (18.3% 'no religion'). (according to the 2016 census).

Greystones has eight primary schools, including several national schools,[33][34][35][36][37][38] an Educate Together primary school,[39] and an Irish-language Gaelscoil.[40]

The town also has four secondary schools:

• St. David's Holy Faith Secondary School which is a public, co-educational school.[41]
• Temple Carrig School; A Church of Ireland, co-educational secondary school which opened in 2014.[42]
• Greystones Community College, a (non-denominational) secondary school which opened in 2020[43]
• SEK-Dublin, a private international school which offers Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP) courses. It is located in Belvedere Hall and first opened its doors in 1981.[44][45]

Wicklow County Council manages a Carnegie library opposite Burnaby Park on the main street (Church Road).

Greystones has a number of entertainment facilities; Charlesland Sports and Recreation Park which include a skate park, several all-weather football and basketball courts, a running track and a playground.[46] The Whale Theatre, used for drama, dance, and concerts, is located in the town centre and is supplemented by Greystones Studios, which provide classes, performance space, practice rooms and AV studios.[47]

• The Ormonde cinema in Greystones, which closed in July 2007, featured in the Father Ted episode "The Passion of St. Tibulus" and also in an episode of Custer's Last Standup.[48]
• Greystones featured as the backdrop for some scenes in the popular BBC series Ballykissangel.
• In the 1980s, many scenes from a series called "Rose of Dublin" were filmed around the harbour area of Greystones.
• The town was commonly used in the Irish programme Glenroe.
• Parts of the movie Taffin, starring Pierce Brosnan, were filmed in Greystones.
• Greystones featured in an episode of Dream Team, a Sky One soccer soap series.
• Parts of George Gently, a 2007 British detective one-off by BBC, were filmed around the Harbour. Martin Shaw starred in the production, which is set in 1960s Britain (Northumberland). The Beach House pub was renamed 'The Mariner's Rest' for the occasion.
• The movie Yesterday's Children, starring Jane Seymour, was filmed in Greystones.

The Greystones area is the home to several businesses, including The Happy Pear food company,[49][50] Goldfish Telecom,[51][52][53] and Smart Storage (RTÉ Dragons' Den-winning company based in nearby Newtownmountkennedy).[54][55]

Greystones remains the most expensive Eircode (A63) outside of Dublin as of Q2 2021 at €495,000.[56]

Greystones and its environs (including Delgany) are home to several notable people including:

• Amy Bowtell, professional tennis player
• Éamon de Buitléar, wildlife film-maker and naturalist
• Reggie Corrigan, former Ireland national rugby union team team member and Leinster player
• Paul Dunne, golfer
• Simon Harris, politician
• Andrew Hozier-Byrne, musician
• Seán Drea, former Irish Olympic rower
• Ronnie Drew of The Dubliners lived in Greystones
• Sean FitzPatrick, former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank[57]
• George Hamilton, commentator for RTÉ television
• Ciara Kelly, broadcaster
• Paul McNaughton, former Irish international rugby player, ex Leinster manager
• Samuel Middleton, cricketer
• John L. Murray, Chief Justice of Ireland 2004–2011
• A. J. Potter, composer
• Damien Rice, musician
• Saoirse Ronan, actress
• Marten Toonder, artist, creator of Oliver B. Bumble

Greystones has town twinning agreements with:

• Holyhead, Wales, United Kingdom.[58]

• 
  Harbour and Little Sugar Loaf
• 
  Shops in Greystones
• 
  Seafront
• 
  Greystones from north
• 
  Holy Rosary Church

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Greystones.

• Greystones Chamber of Commerce
• Greystones Tourism
• Greystones Town Council, archived website of former authority