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Template:Infobox Irish Place Greystones (Template:Lang-ga) is a coastal town in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is located on Ireland’s east coast, 8 km (5 miles) south of Bray and Template:Km to mi south of Dublin. It has a population in the region of 15,000.

The town’s name is derived from a one kilometre stretch of coastal grey rocks situated between two beaches. This rocky area is known as the sea front. The harbour area and the railway station are at the northern and southern ends respectively. The North Beach, which begins at the harbour, is a stony beach and some of its length is overlooked by the southern cliffs of Bray Head, which are subject to erosion. The South Beach is a broad expansive sandy beach about one kilometre long. It is a Blue Flag beach and receives many visitors and tourists, mainly in the summer.

The town is bordered by the Irish Sea to the east, Bray Head to the north and the Wicklow Mountains to the west.

History

Greystones is located near the site of an ancient castle of the Barony of Rathdown. The area is first mentioned in Topographia Hibernia, a 1795 publication. Here it is described as a "noted fishing place four miles beyond Bray."

In the early 1800s, there were some families scattered around the harbour and Rathdown. However, Greystones was only put on the map with the coming of the railway in 1856, a difficult undertaking which was performed in consultation with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the famous engineer. The train 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.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, under the ownership of William Robert La Touche, Greystones' development gathered momentum. To the north of the station, Church Road, Victoria Road, and Trafalgar Road were laid out and many houses were built in the years following the arrival of the railway. Following her father's death, Elizabeth Hawkins-Whitshed was the sole inheritor of his property. In 1879, she married Frederick Gustavus Burnaby; a soldier, politician and traveller. Burnaby died in battle in 1885 and Elizabeth remarried twice, but the property continued to be know as the Burnaby Estate. In the early 1900s, 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 pier, dock, sea wall and boat-slip remain but have endured substantial damage. In the early 1900s, 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.

Population and development

Greystones has experienced a huge increase in its population since the 1970s with the construction of several large housing estates. In the national census of 2002, Greystones showed as the third largest town in County Wicklow. The new development at Charlesland just south of the town includes over 1,000 dwelling units. Figures from the 2006 census show the population of Greystones, as defined by the Central Statistics Office, at 14,569.

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 widened and realigned. A new dual carriageway link road (R774) connecting Greystones to the N11 has been completed. Construction of a full interchange with the N11 is under way.

Transport

Greystones is the southern terminal station of the DART railway line, giving access to Dublin, the capital city. Greystones railway station opened on 30 October 1855. Rail services also continue south to Rosslare Europort on a diesel service. Greystones is also served by several Dublin Bus routes.

Politics

Greystones is part of the Ireland East EU constituency and the Wicklow Dáil constituency. In local government Greystones has four councillors on Wicklow County Council. It has a town council with nine councillors, headed by a Mayor.

Future development

Marina

A major topical issue in the town is the proposed €300 million redevelopment scheme for the harbour to be built by the Sispar consortium in a public-private partnership with Wicklow County Council. The proposed development includes a new harbour, 341 apartments, a 230 berth marina, a new public plaza and facilities for local sporting clubs.

The town is divided on the issue; 6,210 submissions were on received by An Bord Pleanála on initial plans, of which more than 6,200 were objections. Many of the objections came from outside County Wicklow, according to a spokesman for Wicklow County Council. An oral hearing was held and the board requested the developers to make certain changes which resulted in the plans being scaled down by approximately 10%. Some 3,700 objections were made on these updated plans. On 9 August 2007, the board approved the final plans, while imposing 13 conditions on construction works, including the retention of public access to the Cliff Walk during the development period, strict guidelines in relation to dust suppression, the re-use of demolition materials, and limitations on the hours of operation and noise levels. The board also over-ruled an earlier inspector's report, instead agreeing that an inert landfill may now stay on the site.

The two beach photographs show how the state of the harbour area would be changed by the development. The first is an actual photograph taken from a point along the Cliff Walk from Bray, Template:Km to mi to the north, the second being the architect's rendition of how their buildings would look from the same vantage point.

Retail centre

Media outlets have recently been reporting plans for a large shopping centre near Charlesland, to the south of the town; reported to be of a similar size to the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre.

Famous residents

Greystones and its environs (including Delgany) are home to several Irish celebrities including:

• Ronnie Drew; member of The Dubliners
• Eamon de Buitlear; wildlife film maker and naturalist
• Eamonn Darcy; professional golfer on the European Senior Tour
• Reggie Corrigan; former professional rugby player, Irish team member and most capped Leinster player of all time
• John L. Murray; Chief Justice of Ireland
• George Hamilton; commentator for R.T.E. television

Sport

The town has several local clubs and caters for many sporting needs. Tennis, rugby and GAA clubs are located on the Mill Road at the south end of the town. The GAA club is currently undertaking major development work with a new clubhouse and improved floodlighting under construction. Greystones Rugby Football Club are currently in Division One of the All-Ireland League. Over the years the club has produced players that have gone on to represent Leinster, Ireland and The Lions.

The town also has a successful soccer club, Greystones United FC, which is based at Woodlands near the south beach. GUFC is the largest schoolboy/girl soccer club in the country and has in excess of 700 members."Greystones United Football Club". Retrieved 2007-11-17.} Perhaps the club's most famous alumnus is current Irish international Paul McShane.

Greystones has many marine based clubs including sailing, angling, diving, rowing and Sea Scouts (the oldest troop in the country). Greystones is home to the Greystones Mariners Baseball Club, catering to all ages. The Mariners adult team compete nationally and several of the players represent Ireland on the National Baseball Team.

Religion

Greystones has variety of Christian denominations in the locality, with most divisions of mainstream Christianity represented. There is a Roman Catholic, a Presbyterian, an Anglican, an Evangelical Reformed, and an Evangelical Arminian church in Greystones. There is also a Pentecostal bible college. The majority of residents are nominally Roman Catholic.

Education

Greystones has four primary schools: St. Kevin's NS, St. Brigid's NS, St. Laurence's NS, and St. Patrick's NS. St. Patrick's is a Church of Ireland school while the other three are Catholic national schools.

The town also has a secondary school, St. David's Holy Faith, which is a public, co-educational school with approximately 500 students.

Entertainment

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Greystones" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Greystones has a number of entertainment facilities; a skate park in Charlesland, several all-weather football and basketball courts and a playground. The local Scout Den hosts a large number of gigs played by mostly local bands. A theatre suitable for drama, dance, concerts and other events is due to open in the town centre in 2007.

Trivia

• 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.
• 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.
• The movie Taffin, starring Pierce Brosnan, was filmed in Greystones.
• Greystones featured in an episode of Dream Team, a Sky One soccer soap series.

Gallery

• Harbour and Little Sugar Loaf Harbour and Little Sugar Loaf
• Harbour and Bray Head
• Street scene
• Seafront

References

1. http://search.gov.ie/cached/?url=http://www.cso.ie/census/census2006results/volume_2/census_2006_vol_2_tables_14_15.pdf
2. "Greystones and Delgany station" (PDF). Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
3. 'Sispar' is a joint venture consortium of Sisk and Park Developments.
4. The proposed development Greystones Harbour.com. Retrieved on 23 May 2006.
5. Proposals for town's €300m marina 'have serious flaws' Irish Independent, 28 March 2006. Retrieved on 24 May 2006.
6. Greystones Marina plan generates 5,500 submissions The Irish Times, 16 February 2006. Retrieved on 9 August 2007.
7. ^ €300m Greystones development to go ahead RTÉ News, 9 August 2007. Retrieved on 9 August 2007. Cite error: The named reference "RTÉ" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
8. Greystones development gets go-ahead The Irish Times, 9 August 2007. Retrieved on 9 August 2007.
9. Wicklow County Council planning application for retail centre
10. http://www.gufc.ie/index.php
11. http://www.greystones.dublindiocese.ie/
12. http://ireland.anglican.org/dioceses/directory/parishdetails.asp?UtdDiocID=8&UnionGrpID=607
13. http://www.hillsideevangelicalchurch.ie/
14. http://www.naznef.org/districts/districtdetail.asp?District=Ireland
15. http://www.cfibible.com/index.htm
16. http://www.greystonestheatre.com/intro.htm
17. http://www.tv.com/custers-last-stand-up/show/13908/summary.html

See also

• List of towns in Ireland

External links

• Cliff Walk between Bray and Greystones
• Saint David's Secondary School
• St. Laurence's NS
• Greystones Community Notice Board
• Greystones Arts Festival site
• Marina related:
  • Wicklow County Information about the harbour development.
  • Greystones Harbour Official website.
  • The Greystones Protection and Development Association An organisation strongly opposed to the development of the harbour.

53°09.04′N 06°03.9′W / 53.15067°N 6.0650°W / 53.15067; -6.0650

• Towns and villages in County Wicklow
• Beaches of the Republic of Ireland