Greystones, Co. Wicklow, boasts a rich historical tapestry, featuring ancient monastic settlements, medieval churches, and coastal fortifications that reflect its strategic importance through the ages.

The first settlement in the Greystones area was Rathdown village which was a laidout village north of Rathdown Castle, just ½ a mile north of Greystones Harbour. This village was the centre of the Barony of Rathdown which stretched from just South of Dublin to approximately Delgany. Evidence of Rathdown Village was discovered in the 18th Century when draining of a field resulted in the discovering of the remains of a paved street. To the south of the Castle there were remains of the older Rath of considerable dimensions. The name Rathdown is an alteration of the name Rath Oinn, though pronounced vocally the same. Canon Price in his book “The Stones of Bray” describes it as having been “one of the finest Baronies in Ireland”. He suggests that the Rath was undoubtably one of the Royal residences of the first Milesian (Gaelic) kings in Ireland. It would appear that the Rath was an important residence right up to the Norman Occupation.

The first mention of Greystones appears in a map of Wicklow in 1760. Then it appears as ‘Gray Stones’ (sometimes ‘The Gray Stones’). By 1795 Greystones is described as a ‘noted fishing place’. In 1800 Rogert Fraser describes Greystones as having a natural rock stretching into the sea creating a natural harbour.  It was recorded at this time as having three half-decked vessels with eighteen men and thirty-one open sail boats, with eighteen men working the harbour.

When Dr Urwick, a minister of the York Street Congregational Chapel, spent the Sabbath in Greystones in he would conduct a service in one of the cottages and also preached in the open air at the flagstaff. He described Greystones in 1830 as consisting of two dozen cottages and a coastguard station. In 1837 Greystones was described as a small fishing hamlet, with a coastguard station, then located at Blacklion. A harbour was being considered at this time.

In 1837 a school is recorded in Greystones that was supported by subscription. In the 1840s a school was built in Blacklion at the top of what would later be named Church Lane.  It was a Catholic-run school. Greystones changed dramatically with the coming of the railway, the railway station opening in 1856. This was the impetus for its development, with the building of houses on Church Road, Trafalgar Road and Bayswater Terrace (at the harbour) from the 1860s, these roads were layed out by the La Touche family of Bellevue in Delgany on land they had aquired prior to 1791, which stretched from  Rathdown Upper  to where the railway station is located today.

The Railway line was was opened in 1855 with the running of a train from Harcourt Street to Greystones full of dignitaries such as the The Lord lieutenant. The engineer of the scenic railway line from Bray to Greystones was the noted engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

In 1861 Greystones had a population of 238, which had grown to 355 by 1871. By 1881 Greystones had its own Post Office and a national school and a protestant school. By 1891 the population of Greystones had grown to 516 and had now at least one hotel. In 1910 Greystones had population of 900, of whom two-thirds were Protestant. The Church of Ireland had been enlarged four times since it was built in 1857 in order to accommodate the growing summer congregations. Greystones had many visitors in the summer period and by 1920 there were at least five hotels. This included the Grand Hotel (later known as the La Touche Hotel) built in 1894. Early summer visitors to Greystones included Brahm Stoker the author of Dracula, the Countess of Granard, the founder of the Celtic Revival movement Standish James O’Grady, J M Synge and his family, the author Catherine Tynan, Robert Yelverton Tyrrell, Michael Collins and Lord Ashbourne amongst many others.

The first big housing development came in the 1890’s with the building of the Burnaby Estate, located near Greystones Railway Station. It was instigated by Alfred Wynne the land agent of the Hawkins Whitshed estate and named after the first husband of Elizabeth Hawkins Whitshed, the noted adventurer and soldier Frederick Burnaby. It was first mentioned in 1880 and was completed by c1905 and is one of the first housing estates to be built in Ireland.

Today Greystones has grown from small seaside village to being declared a town in 1984, which now includes the surrounding villages Killincarrig and Blacklion.

Some sites of historical importance.

Kindlestown Castle is located in the townland of Upper Kindlestown. It may be one of  only two Hall Houses in the country, and is believed to date from the late 13th or early 14th century. The builder may have been Walter de Bendeville who in 1225 owned land in the Delgany area, though others believe the builder to have been Albert de Kenley , who was recorded as being in the area at the time of construction. The Castle and the townland got their name from Albert de Kenley who was Sheriff of Kildare, and married a widow of the Mac Gilla Mo Chomoc family, the owners of Rathdown Castle.

St. Crispin’s Cell - This small, single celled 16th century church was, perhaps, the private chapel for Rathdown Castle. The church is named after the French Saint Crispin, who became the patron saint of shoe-makers. The Cell is only 7m long (East-West) and 5.4m wide. There is a square-shaped entrance porch at the west end, and a large arched window facing east. The well-preserved walls are upstanding to the eaves, and are built with rubble and granite with quartzitic quoins, and some more porus tufa used in the east window.

Killincarrig Castle Though today referred to as Killincarrig Castle, it is in fact an early 17th century L-shaped house built in the Jacobean style by Henry Walsh of Carrickmines. In the Down survey (1657), it was recorded as “a large three-storey building with a pitched roof, three turrets and a flag flying from the roof.” The house was occupied by a small army garrison at the time of Oliver Cromwell’s rampage, and it is reported that Cromwell  stayed one or two nights at Killincarrig Castle on his way from Drogheda to Wexford. 

Delgany Old Church and graveyard - The Medieval Church in Delgany is centrally located, it is a short distance west of the new Church which replaced it in 1789 named Christchurch. It is said that there was a monastery located near to the medieval church in Delgany, though if this is true there is no sign of it today. It is not clear when the original stone church in Delgany was built, though in 1220 it is recorded that Henry Loundres the archbishop of Dublin founded a hospital in a place called Steyne near Dublin and endowed it with the lands of Kilmachury, Kilmalmalmock, Stewardach and the church of Delgany. Archbishop of Dublin John Alen  (1529 - 1534), wrote about Delgany saying that "This a rectory and a mother Church, with its five chapels; and a more principal church in the whole Barony of Rathdown; and we have the right of passage to it." The chapels associated with Delgany church would appear to have been Kilbride, Carrick, Glencapill, Kilmacber and Glasmoylen.

You can discover more about Greystones rich history with local historian Colin Love here.