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.

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 - PeruCreative Commons License Mark Rowland via Compfight

Early farmers lived at Rathdown too

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

DSC_2425 Joachim S. Müller via Compfight

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.

Noose Mike Dean via Compfight

The arrival of the railway changed all that.

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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#BeautifulGreystones – We live in a beautiful place: Greystones, County Wicklow, Ireland

bray to greystonesCreative Commons License
Rach via Compfight

 

We go to school in St. Brigid’s National School

in Greystones, County Wicklow in Ireland.

Most of us live nearby.

We love living in Greystones.

It is a good community where people look out for each other.

 

Visitors to our blog often ask what Greystones is like.

Take a look at this video created

by a talented young photographer Seán Daly

and you will see what a beautiful part of the world we live in;

an hour away from our capital city of Dublin,

beside the sea and near the Wicklow hills.

Seaside Scavenger Hunt

 

Sea of love.

This Scavenger Hunt was written especially for

Greystones South Beach.

 

We will choose only the things that we can collect

and return safely and without damage.

 

1. A small black pebble

2. A feather

3. A pebble with a hole in it

4. A mermaid’s purse

(dog fish egg case or whelk egg case)

5. A limpet (or part of)

6. A mussel (or part of)

7. A whelk (or part of)

8. Something beautiful

9. Some sea lettuce

10. A sea belt

11. Some bladder wrack

12. Something that makes a noise

13. A small white pebble

14. A pink flower

15. Something soft

16. A yellow flower

17. Something important in nature

(Everything in nature is important!)

18. A small grey pebble

19. Any part of a crab

20. Something that reminds you of yourself

21. A white flower

22. A sun trap (This is anything that captures the sun’s heat)

23. More than 100 of something!

24. Something that the sea has changed

25. A creature’s home (make sure it is empty).

26. Something round

27. A big smile

 

At the end we will leave what we have found on the beach.

We will:

‘Leave only footprints.

Take only memories’.

Hello to the boys and girls in Room 8 @ Aurora (South Taranaki, New Zealand)

Recently we visited a lovely blog

recommended to us by our ‘old’ friend 😉

Mr. Webb from Aurora School, in New Zealand.

This blog is Room 8 @ Aurora.

Room 8 is a 0-2 Class. In Ireland we would say

a Junior and Senior Infants class.

Like ourselves the school is not far from the beach.

Their school is surrounded by farmland.

Why not visit their blog!

Call in and say hello! You can find it here.

Ms Nicholas's Blog

We left a comment on this blog

and their teacher Ms.Nicholas kindly replied:
From Ms Nicholas

So hello to the children in Room 8, Aurora.

It is nice to meet you.

Let us tell you a little bit about our school.

The teachers are kind and fair and the students are friendly.

You can see our school here:

There are lots of good things about Greystones,

the town where we live too.

It is beside the sea.

There are lots of things to do for children.

 

You would like living in Greystones if you like

football, rugby, tennis, karate, running,

cycling, swimming and skateboarding.

 

You would also like to live in Greystones

if you were interested in music, drama or reading.

There is a very good library in Greystones.

Hi.jpg

 

Bye for now.

We hope you have a good week in school.

We will visit again, soon.

Remembering Caroline: The Greystones Bear and why it is there!

Occasionally on our blog we write about

past pupils of St. Brigid’s, Greystones.

Earlier in the year we told you about Emily’s Green Fingers 

and her contribution to our community.

 

Before that we wrote about Harry 

who is having great success musically.

We called that post ‘Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns grow’ .

 

Today we want to tell you about a girl

called Caroline Dwyer Hickey.

Caroline and her little brother Denis

came to school here with us in the 1980s

and they are both fondly remembered by the teachers

who were working here then

and by the school friends who were here too.

 

Caroline went on to become a primary school teacher

and she worked in another St. Brigid’s NS., in Glasnevin

where she was greatly loved.

 

Caroline went home to God on 20 March, 2013

after a brave battle against cancer.

 

She was a girl who was greatly loved

and people wanted to remember her.

In St. Brigid’s Glasnevin,

they are making the most marvellous mosaic

to commemorate her.

 

This brings us to the wonderful

and most magnificient Greystones Bear:

 

BeFunky_Underpainting_242.jpg

 

He looks even better in real life 😉

Caroline’s family gave the community of Greystones

the gift of this wonderful bear

in memory of Caroline.

The Beach Bear was created

by the talented sculptor Patrick O’Reilly.

 

The bear is taller than any grown up we know.

He is eight foot tall and two tonnes in weight.

He carries a bucket and spade

and he looks as if he is marching down to the beach to play.

We love him and every time we past we say hello.

There are always people around him, admiring him.

 

Family and friends of Caroline have also established

‘The Caroline Foundation’.

The ‘Caroline Foundation’ will raise funds for cancer research.

 

There is a Guinness World Record Attempt

being held on Sunday, 11th May.

The challenge is to join up the longest chain of ribbons

from Greystones to Bray along the Cliff Walk.

 

You can read about it here.

 

Why not join in!

We know children from this school

who are taking part.

The event is very well organized

and children will not be on the cliff walk,

better locations along the route

are being organized for them.

 

We wish the Caroline Foundation

every success in this exciting challenge

and remember our brave past pupil.