GREYSTONES virtual invention of Railway
Small Towns are the creation of the needs and ambitions of the people. Our town was the virtual invention of the railway when it opened in 1855. Until then, only a dozen cottages stood in the area of a natural harbour named 'The Gray stones, that was little more than a speck on an admiralty chart. It was a popular place to launch a boat. A fishing fleet, employing four hundred established its fleet here by the 1800s and were the first to supply Dublin with herring in Season. Attempts were first made to build a harbour from 1818 onwards that failed because local entrepreneurs could not raise funds, including the La Touche Family. The fishermen lived in the hills close to Delgany, dependent on the patronage of landowners planted by the Pirate Queen of England, Elizabeth I, who swept the original occupants of the land into the margins.
Small Town Reporters
A memoir by Peter McNiff of journalists and journalism at the Irish Independent in the 1960s.
'Extraordinary, entertaining and original'
small town reporters by Peter McNiff
Stories from a Small Town
'This book will be around for years to come' - Joe Hayes, Former County Librarian.
At the turn of this century a history of Greystones spanning its earliest times to was told by elders of Greystones and published with commentaries by Peter McNiff. If you would like to purchase a copy please contact the author:
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railway encounters
'Entertaining stories about railways and Greystones people in the Victorian period. New material on the life, debt and deth of the Father of Irish Railways, William Dargan, who built the Dublin to Wexford Railway, and virtually invented seaside resorts in Ireland. Read more...