Journal Volume 7 2013

Greystones possibilities

 General View of the Agriculture and Mineralogy, Present State and Circumstances of the County Wicklow, Robert Fraser, 1801

At the northern part of this coast, near Bray Head, a rivulet runs through a beautiful vale, from Mount Temple, emptying itself, into the sea, at the Grey-stones, where I found a rock of compact argillite stretching out into the sea, and forming a fine natural harbour, with an excellent roadstead adjacent for ships of any burthen, from fishing vessels, to the largest frequenting those seas, and which at a very moderate expence, in forming the rock into a quay, and deepening inwards, could be made of great importance to the numerous fishing vessels, on this coast, and to the whole Channel trade…

Adjacent to this harbour, is a plain, which might be formed into a convenient village, into which the fishermen scattered on the coast, might be with great advantage collected, and under a benevolent land owner, freed from the heavy oppressions, to which we found them subjected, in being forced to pay for their cabins and a patch of land, a most exorbitant rent, amounting to the rate of four and five guineas an acre. And by having some improvement made of this harbour, they would not be exposed to the losses, to which they are so frequently subjected, by having their boats beat to pieces, by the surf, on the beach, which also prevents their pursuing their industry, but is the occasion of numbers annually perishing, in returning from the fishing ground.