{"id":2063,"date":"2017-06-04T16:07:49","date_gmt":"2017-06-04T15:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swilson.info\/wp\/?p=2063"},"modified":"2017-06-04T16:28:08","modified_gmt":"2017-06-04T15:28:08","slug":"description-of-the-town-of-bray-1822","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swilson.info\/wp\/?p=2063","title":{"rendered":"Description of the town of Bray – 1822"},"content":{"rendered":"

From \u2018Guide to the County of Wicklow\u2019 by Rev. G.N. Wright
\nPublished by Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, Paternoster Row (London) 1822<\/span><\/p>\n

\"bray_nth_wick_1822\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n


\nThe town of Bray is situated upon a river of same\u00a0<\/span>name, the boundary of the county Wicklow, ten miles\u00a0<\/span>from Dublin, and within less than a quarter of a mile of\u00a0<\/span>the sea; part stands on the Dublin side of the river, but\u00a0<\/span>the greater portion is in the county Wicklow. On every\u00a0<\/span>side are gentlemen’s seats, improved in the most expensive\u00a0<\/span>manner, and with admirable taste. Near the\u00a0<\/span>bridge, on the Dublin side, is Ravenswell, formerly the seat\u00a0<\/span>of the Rowleys, but now let to yearly tenants; and, at\u00a0<\/span>the upper end of the town, on the Kilruddery road, are\u00a0<\/span>several exceedingly neat cottages, which lot for the season\u00a0<\/span>at rents of nearly 100 l<\/em>. each. Behind the town, as you\u00a0<\/span>approach from Dublin, rises Bray head, a lofty and\u00a0<\/span>commanding promontory, its outline bold and irregular,\u00a0<\/span>its colour always dark and gloomy, and its sides precipitous\u00a0<\/span>and rugged; this, we mentioned, was seen by the\u00a0<\/span>traveller under very peculiar and pleasing circumstances,\u00a0<\/span>for the first time, from the Killiney Hills. The river of\u00a0<\/span>Bray, which is the same that flows through the Dargle, is\u00a0<\/span>spread over a wide waste of moory strand, for a distance\u00a0<\/span>of a mile from the town: the body of water is not considerable,\u00a0<\/span>while the fall is sufficiently great; so that, by\u00a0<\/span>a little embanking, and the erection of one or two weirs\u00a0<\/span>between the Dargle and the mouth of the river, this\u00a0<\/span>valley and the trout fishery would be much improved, a\u00a0<\/span>great quantity of land, now barren, recovered, and the\u00a0<\/span>number of water-falls would form a series of pretty objects\u00a0<\/span>in the drive towards the Dargle.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 Bray is a rectory in the diocese of Dublin: the church,\u00a0<\/span>which stands on the river’s side, is tolerably large and\u00a0<\/span>comfortable, and ornamented with a steeple and spire.\u00a0<\/span>Divine service is attended in summer by great numbers\u00a0<\/span>of persons of rank and respectability, the neighbourhood\u00a0<\/span>being still a fashionable bathing place. There is a regular\u00a0<\/span>post here, and two Fairs are held in each year, on the\u00a0<\/span>1st of May and the 20th of September, where great\u00a0<\/span>quantities of frize and flannel are exhibited for sale, and\u00a0<\/span>some black cattle and sheep. In the town of Bray is\u00a0<\/span>Quin’s famous hotel ; his house is large, and kept with\u00a0<\/span>neatness, regularity, and elegance; his charges moderate,\u00a0<\/span>and the accommodation and attendance cannot he excelled.\u00a0<\/span>Quin\u2019s chaises are superior in decoration and\u00a0<\/span>style of equipment to any thing in England; and, besides\u00a0<\/span>these, he is supplied with a number of handsome\u00a0<\/span>barouchos, for the accommodation of parties visiting the\u00a0<\/span>beautiful scenery in this neighbourhood, and in every\u00a0<\/span>part of Wicklow. Quin was the first person who introduced\u00a0<\/span>an elegant and improved style of posting into\u00a0<\/span>this kingdom, and has carried it to such a degree of perfection\u00a0<\/span>that he is never likely to be rivalled. Had there\u00a0<\/span>been many such improving and spirited persons placed o<\/span>n the head of respectable establishments through the\u00a0<\/span>kingdom, intercourse and civilization would have ad<\/span>vanced more rapidly, and Ireland had been spared the\u00a0<\/span>censure and the laugh raised against her, by one of her\u00a0<\/span>most distinguished novelists, in the story of the Knockacrockery Post-boy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 In front of the inn are the arms of the Earl of Meath,\u00a0<\/span>to whom most of the town of Bray belongs. There is\u00a0<\/span>an old castle at Bray, near which a desperate battle was\u00a0<\/span>fought in 1690, between the armies of William and\u00a0<\/span>James. Here are, also, a handsome Roman Catholic\u00a0<\/span>Chapel and a barrack for infantry.\u00a0<\/span>The road in front of Quin’s hotel leads to the seashore;\u00a0<\/span>the strand is shelving and pebbly, and bathing is\u00a0<\/span>practicable at all hours. No attempt has ever been\u00a0<\/span>made to improve the harbour, so that only small craft\u00a0<\/span>come near this town; there is neither quay, wharf, nor\u00a0<\/span>pier. It was once suggested to construct a rail-way\u00a0<\/span>from the mountains, through the vale which the Bray\u00a0<\/span>river waters to the river’s mouth, and there erect a pier,\u00a0<\/span>where the mountain granite could be exported, for the\u00a0<\/span>purposes of building in other places; but this suggestion\u00a0<\/span>appears to have been rejected without any examination.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 Following the coast to Bray Head, a work of pleasing\u00a0<\/span>difficulty is presented, the ascent to its summit, an elevation\u00a0<\/span>of 807 feet above low water; this can be accomplished by a\u00a0<\/span>little perseverance, but it is quite impossible\u00a0<\/span>to climb round the precipitous cliffs which hang over the\u00a0<\/span>see. In this dark and inaccessible brow, the curlew,\u00a0<\/span>cormorants, and gulls build their nests, and on the approach of a\u00a0<\/span>storm, or being disturbed by any unusual\u00a0<\/span>noise, they endeavour to rival the solemn rolling of\u2018 the\u00a0<\/span>waves by their loud and melancholy screams, while they\u00a0<\/span>darken the chasm, in whose front they have built their\u00a0<\/span>nests, by flying from rock to rock in wild and unmeaning\u00a0<\/span>confusion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Bray Head* is composed chiefly of quartz rock, divided\u00a0<\/span>into two great masses, the division between them\u00a0<\/span>being marked by a hollow in the middle of the hill; but\u00a0<\/span>the coast around the head-land consists of numerous\u00a0<\/span>successions of stratified rocks, which ascend part of the\u00a0<\/span>northern and eastern brows of the head. Upon the\u00a0<\/span>strand, on each side of this promontory, are found\u00a0<\/span>pebbles, white and almost pellucid, which strike fire but\u00a0<\/span>weakly, being imperfect crystals. Various coloured\u00a0<\/span>pebbles are also found all along the Wicklow coast, bearing\u00a0<\/span>a resemblance, according to Rutty, to Egyptian;\u00a0<\/span>these strike fire with steel, and cause no ebullition with\u00a0<\/span>acids ; they admit of cutting, and receive a high polish.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

* Perhaps it was so named from some fancied resemblance it bears to a\u00a0<\/span>neck, which is called Braighe, in Irish, or Bri, a hill \u2013 Harris.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From \u2018Guide to the County of Wicklow\u2019 by Rev. G.N. Wright Published by Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, Paternoster Row (London) 1822 The town of Bray is situated upon a river of same\u00a0name, the boundary of the county Wicklow, ten miles\u00a0from … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swilson.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2063"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swilson.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swilson.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swilson.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swilson.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2063"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.swilson.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2069,"href":"https:\/\/www.swilson.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2063\/revisions\/2069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swilson.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swilson.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swilson.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}