A Short History of Greystones

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History of Greystones

Long ago no one lived in Greystones.

It was too wild and wind swept.

But people lived at Rathdown.

There is evidence that people have lived there

from the time of the Stone Age.

Then King Heremon built a rath

Sheep of Kings
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in a more sheltered spot to the north of Greystones.

This was at Rathdown.

This was 500 BC.

Pestle and mortar - Choquequirao - Peru

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Early farmers lived at Rathdown too

By the Middle Ages there were 500 people living at Rathdown.

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The Vikings came by boat and by land from Dublin.

Viking swords
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Greystones is in County Wicklow.

Wicklow means ‘Viking Meadow’.

85 Haithabu Herbstmesse WMH 02-11-2014 Kai-Erik via Compfight.

Vikings were fierce warriors from the North of Europe.

Later the Normans lived at the castle.

They were skilled soldiers from the North of France.

William's silhouette
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In 1301, the wild, Wicklow tribes,

the O’Tooles and the O’Byrnes burnt down the castle.

They came on foot and horseback.

Greystones (Na Clocha Liatha in Irish) is a coastal town in County WicklowCreative Commons License William Murphy via Compfight

In 1800 no one was living at Greystones.

Described as a ‘wild headland’,

English speaking sailors

sailing on the Irish Sea

used call the area ‘the grey stones’

because of the grey rocks.

In 1825, there were 7 fishing families living there.

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The arrival of the railway changed all that.

 

The family of the former President of Ireland,

Éamonn de Valera lived in the Burnaby from 1916-1922.

Some of his children attended our school.

Michael Collins used visit Greystones too.

 

We have done some project work for

the La Touche Legacy Conference 2017.

You can read about our work HERE.

 

Now we are a town in the ‘commuter belt’.

People live in Greystones

and commute by train to Dublin city to work.

Lots of tourists come and visit us on the train.

It is a good place to visit and a GREAT place to live.

 

204 of 365 - …upon the mountains like a flame

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