Balbriggan (/ˌbælˈbrɪ.ɡən/; Irish: Baile Brigín) is a large town in the northern part of Fingal, Ireland. The 2011 census population was 19,960 for Balbriggan and its environs.
An 18th-century traveller described Balbriggan as "... a small
village situated in a small glin [glen] where the sea forms a little
harbour – it is reckoned safe and is sheltered by a good pier. The
village is resorted to in Summer time by several genteel people for the
benefit of bathing."
Balbriggan owes its rise from a small fishing village to a place of manufacturing and commercial importance to Baron Hamilton, who, in 1780, introduced cotton manufacture, for which he erected factories.
Lewis's Topographical Directory of Ireland, from 1837, refers to Balbriggan as follows:
A sea-port, market, and post-village, and a chapelry, in the parish and barony of Balrothery, county of Dublin, and province of Leinster, 15 miles (N. by E.) from Dublin; containing 3016 inhabitants.
Balbriggan is 32 km north of Dublin city, on the Belfast–Dublin main line of the Irish rail network.
The River Bracken, also known as the Matt River, which flows through
the town, once formed a lake known locally at "The Canal" or "Head"(of
water). The water was sluiced through a canal and tunnels down to the
Lower Mill where it turned a waterwheel to drive the cotton
manufacturing machinery. The retaining wall of the reservoir collapsed
in the 1960s and the area was reclaimed through land-fill in the early
1980s to create a public park.
The town is coastal and has a famous sandy beach. It was a holiday destination for people from Dublin city and is the location of a Sunshine Home
which aims to provide a holiday to underprivileged children from
Dublin.The Sunshine Fund is a unique branch of the Society of Saint
Vincent de Paul which provides week-long Summer holidays for children,
aged 7 to 11, from disadvantaged parts of Dublin, Meath, Wicklow and
Kildare.
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