BRAY HEAD IN COUNTY WICKLOW – PHOTOGRAPHED APRIL 2007
Bray Head is a 241 m (791 ft) hill and headland located in northern County Wicklow, Ireland, between the towns of Bray and Greystones. It forms part of the Wicklow Mountains and is a popular spot with hillwalkers. At the top of the head is a concrete cross which was placed there in 1950 during the holy year.
The headland and adjacent lands were designated under a Special Amenity Area Order in March 2008.
The most direct way to reach the cross at the top (about 190m above sea level) is via an ascending footpath that begins just outside the free car park on the lower, northern slopes, to the south of Bray Esplanade. This is a half-hour walk for a fit person. The footpath, after the initial section with cut steps, is a rough path formed by rainwater and ascending through natural woodland. A more gradual route can be taken from the Southern Cross, by Bray Golf Club, which is easier underfoot. There is also a route which ascends from the Greystones side of the cliff walk; this route leads quite directly up the east side of the hill and as a result is quite steep, Upon reaching the top you can then walk the path along to the cross.
The Dublin-Wicklow railway line runs outside of Bray Head along the coast, sometimes travelling within feet of the cliffs. This line, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is referred to as Brunel’s Folly, due to the ongoing maintenance costs associated with maintaining a cliff-face line. The line had to be diverted on three occasions in 1876, 1879, and 1917. A serious accident occurred on 9 August 1867 when a passenger train derailed on nearby Brandy Hole Viaduct, causing the deaths of two passengers. The rail trip between Dublin and Bray Daly railway station, the nearest station to Bray Head, takes approximately 45 minutes.
A WALK ALONG THE RIVER DARGLE – BRAY COUNTY WICKLOW APRIL 2017
The River Dargle is a river that rises in the Wicklow Mountains, on the southern slopes of Tonduff 642 metres (2,106 ft). It flows down the Glensoulan hanging valley, to fall over the 121 metres (397 ft) Powerscourt Waterfall. The Dargle then flows through the Glencree valley where it is fed by the River Glencree, before flowing east for a further 13 km (8.1 mi) where a small tributary the Swan River joins opposite the People’s Park, Little Bray. The final section 1 km (0.62 mi) section reaches the Irish Sea at Bray Harbour. The river’s name in Irish refers to the tint of red in the rocks at its source.
Sir Walter Scott visited the area in 1825 and mistakenly assumed that Dargle was the name for any glen, etc. He used the word in his novel Redgauntlet seven years later: Glen, nor dargle, nor mountain, nor cave, could hide the puir hill-folk.
About 1838 the eminent judge Philip Cecil Crampton, who lived at St. Valery House, by the Dargle, became a supporter of the temperance movement: to show his fidelity to the cause, he emptied the entire contents of his wine cellar into the river.
The folk song Waxies’ Dargle makes an indirect reference to the river. Non-religious holidays in Dublin – especially tradesmens’ days off – were traditionally referred to as a “Dargle Days” (from the habit of the Irish upper classes, of travelling off to the banks of the Dargle, to picnic and engage in field sports such as tennis, on such days). The “Waxie’s Dargle”, on the other hand, is a humorous reference to the annual outing of the Dublin shoe-makers and repairers (who were known as “Waxies”, from their habit of periodically running a ball of wax along the string as they stitched) to Irishtown on the River Dodder.
THE CHRISTOPHER THOMPSON MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN AT THE ROYAL HOTEL IN BRAY
The fountain and obelisk at the Royal Hotel in Bray was erected, by public subscription, in memory of Dr Christopher Thompson, who died in 1876. I read somewhere that he was the only Medical Doctor in Ireland to have a monument such as this in their honour but I have photographed four others.
Note: I believe that Marie Hayes was the first woman in Ireland to qualify as a Doctor.
Dr. Thompson was born in Dublin in 1815 and joined the British Army, as a Doctor, and was assigned to the Light Infantry in Cobh [known as Queenstown at the time]. At some stage he was promoted and moved to the UK and later took up a position at Portsmouth general Hospital. In 1859 he returned to Ireland where had a house at Duncairn Terrace in Bray.
He was involved in fighting an outbreak of cholera in Bray in 1879 but he died towards the end of the year. He is buried in St. Paul’s graveyard across the road from the memorial.
I believe that his wife died about nine years later and that she is buried in Mount Jerome cemetery which is in Harold’s Cross in Dublin. I will check this the next time I visit the cemetery but it strikes me as a bit odd that she was not buried with her husband.
Bray (Daly) Railway Station is a station situated in Bray in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is located adjacent to Bray seafront and is 600 m from Bray Main Street via Florence Road or Quinsborough Road. Many years years ago I operated a business from Quinsborough Road but in 1979 I moved to Santa Clara in California and the difference was extreme to say the least but I decided to return to Ireland.
Bray marks the end of the double track line from Dublin and is the end point for most suburban services, with train stabling facilities convenient to the station.
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