Chapter 26.

Balbriggan,

more anciently called Ballybriggen, into which the village of Balrothery appears to glide imperceptibly.

Balbriggan has been a very thriving place, but, by the decline of the cotton factories, the withdrawing of the fishery bounties, and the diversion of the great Northern road, the advantages, which its proprietors zealously laboured to promote, have been considerably impeded. Its population was returned in 1831 as 3,016 persons. Strictly, it constituted a chapelry in the deanery of Garristown, impropriate in the Hamilton family. It ranks, however, in common parlance, as a townland in the parish of Balrothery, both in the Catholic and Protestant dispensations.

A very handsome church was founded here in 1813 at an expense of £3,018, of which the sum of £1,400 was given by the Board of First Fruits, £478 raised by voluntary contributions, as Mr. G. A. Hamilton states, from the Roman Catholics and Protestants of the neighbourhood, and the remainder was the free gift of the Reverend George Hamilton and his family. That gentleman also settled an endowment for the curate. The edifice constructed in these kindly and liberal feelings was accidentally burned in [464] 1833, but is now in progress of being rebuilt, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners having granted £480 in aid of the object. There is no graveyard attached, the parochial burial ground being at Balrothery, but under the church is the family vault of the Hamiltons of Hampton. There is here also an old Roman Catholic chapel, and an extensive modern one, on a new site, will probably be finished before these sheets are printed.

A parliamentary report of 1826 states two schools as then existing here, at one of which 87 Roman Catholic boys and one Presbyterian were educated, each scholar paying from one penny to four-pence per week, and in the other 47 Roman Catholic girls and three Presbyterian, to the mistress of which the parish priest allowed £3 per annum and a ton of coals. There was also another school reported at the same time as existing in Balrothery-street where 24 Protestant and 10 Catholic children were educated, and to which the Rev. Mr. Hamilton and the Rev. Mr. Baker contributed £5 each.

The town appears built on as many hills as old Rome itself, the only good street, however, for private residence, is George-street. House rent and lodgings are unreasonably high in price, while the markets are dear and scantily supplied. A crescent of bathing villas would be extremely likely to succeed here, and to offer ulterior consequent advantages for the outlay of capital, nor is it improbable that before long, on the construction of the proposed [465] Drogheda Railway, and under the auspices of such a proprietor as Mr. G. A. Hamilton, these speculations may be fully realized. A small stream, which turns several flour mills, empties itself through the town into the sea, which here presents a fine bathing shore.

The harbour is the only place of shelter, for vessels exposed to severe weather, between the bays of Dublin and Carlingford, and, as it is all clear ground and soft sand, a vessel in a storm from east, without anchor or cable, may venture to run herself aground within it, at least when there is sufficient water, which within the pier head is about 14 feet at high water springs, but it is all dry at low water. The pier is a rough mole projecting into the sea about 600 feet, with a lofty wall 18 feet thick at its base, and protected on the outside by a considerable rampart of great rocks, to defend it from the waves. It was built by the late Baron Hamilton at an expense of about £15,000 of which £1,500 was granted to him by the Irish parliament in 1761, and £3,752 in 1765. About the year 1829 an inner dock, or harbour, was constructed at a cost of about £3,000, of which £1,314 7s. 9*d. *was granted by the late Irish Fishery Board, £100 by the Marquis of Lansdowne, and the remainder defrayed by the late Rev. George Hamilton, then proprietor. His son, Mr. George A. Hamilton, has also expended considerable sums in supporting and improving the structure. The Ballast Board have built an excellent light-house on the pier head, and at the opposite [466] side of the creek *is a Martello tower. Within this harbour ships of 200 tons can unload, and accordingly such vessels do carry in here slates, coals, and culm from Wales, also rock salt and bark, while the exports *are corn and cattle, and the quay is frequently completely occupied with such craft. In making the harbour from the northward by night, care must be taken to avoid the Carjoe rock, which lies about a mile from the pier.

The Ballast Board collect the harbour dues under the authority of the acts of parliament, 26 Geo. 3, c. 19; 30 Geo. 3, c. 25, s.9; and 32 Geo. 3, c. 35, s. 55; under the provision that the sums so collected shall be laid out in the repairs and improvement of the respective ports. The dues collected here are sixpence per ton on the registered tonnage of each trader landing goods in the port, one penny per ton for the support of the quay walls, and 1s. 8*d. *per ton for every ton of ballast taken. The repairs are executed under the direction and superintendence of the Hamilton family, whereby an obvious and serviceable cheek is reciprocally created. How more than faithfully the funds have been applied appears from the tots of the last return, furnished by Mr. G. A. Hamilton as for seven years, commencing in January, 1827.

Expended, in that interval, in the repairs of Balbriggan harbour … £2,387 1s. 6d.

Received, during same, under the authority of said acts, … £1,740 1s. 6d.

Expended by the Hamilton family, over and above the receipts, … £647 0s. 0d.

[467] In 1829 the tonnage of the vessels employed here was reported as 2,513, and the number of the fishermen as 863. In the following year the number of fishermen employed from this port increased to 934 while the report of the last year on the Irish Fisheries states only 12 boats, of from 25 to 57 tons burden, engaged here, each employing six or eight men. Besides the cotton mills; hereafter alluded to, there is also a salt work here, which does a great deal of business.

A regular vein of sparry micaceous stone, fit for the manufacture of pure crystal glass, has been discovered here, also a small vein of copper and sulphur by that indefatigable mineralogist Donald Stewart.

The records of this locality are so identified with those of Balrothery, already enumerated, that few remain for notice here.

In 1635 Peter Barnewall was seised in fee tail of two messuages and 40a. here, which he held of the king in capite by knight’s service.

On the 3rd of July, 1690, King William encamped here after the battle of the Boyne.

In 1700 Thomas Baker claimed a leasehold interest in 60a. here, part of the forfeitures of the Earl of Tyrconnel, and his claim was allowed; while in 1703 James Kiernan of Dublin obtained a grant of Little Balbriggan, and the mill, 60a*. *&c., which had been also the estate of Richard then late Earl of Tyrconnel attainted, and previously granted by said Earl to Viscount Sydney, and sold by him in 1698 to said Kiernan.

In 1718 the Barnewall property in Balbriggan and Balrothery was purchased by Alexander, the son of Hugh Hamilton of Erinagh and Ballybrenagh, in the County of Down, from whom it has lineally descended to the present proprietor.

In 1780 Baron Hamilton, then proprietor of this place, established [468] extensive cotton works here, for the promotion or which parliament granted the sum of £1,250; but it was in some years afterwards nearly abandoned for the hosiery manufacture. Two cotton works, however, revived here; one having a 48 horse power with 3,060 spindles, capable of producing 3,000lbs. of twist per week, and employing about 110 persons; the other having a 36 horse power, with 4,452 spindles, capable of producing 4,400lbs.of twist per week, employing 205 persons. Both these existed until recently, when one stopped; the surviving concern employs about 100 persons of both sexes and all ages. In reference to the hosiery business, Mr. Hamilton states, that there are factories here capable of producing 60 dozen of stockings in the week, while there are also 942 looms in the town and neighbourhood for the weaving of calicoes, cords, and checks.

The Dublin Chronicle of August 18th, 1791, contains a very vivid description of a perambulation of the franchises of this town, which had been then recently celebrated. It describes the Pageant as classified in six bodies, the tailors, smiths, weavers, butchers, brewers, and spinners, attended by their carriages, in which were displayed the practical operations of the several fabrics of the town.

In 1795 Earl Fitz William landed at Balbriggan; to assume the government of Ireland.

The student of nature will find here in the hedges, or on the adjacent sandy places, *cynoglossum sylvaticum, *green-leaved hound’s-tongue, a very disagreeably scented plant; *arenaria peploides, *sea sandwort; *cerastium semidecandrum, *little mouse-ear chickweed; *glaucum luteum, *yellow-horned poppy; *sonchus arvensis, *corn sow thistle. - In the fields, *cichorium intybus, *wild succory, with its broad succulent leaves, but as the stems become hard with age, it is unfit to be made into hay: the flowers, which appear in July and August, are of a fine blue colour. This plant is much used in France as, a salad; while the roots, cut [469] into small pieces, and slightly roasted, are employed as a substitute for coffee in some parts of Germany; and in Belgium, a portion of chichory is generally mixed with coffee-beans. - In the marshes, *apium graveolens, *wild celery: and, on the adjacent shore, *pulmonaria maritima, *sea lungwort; *fucus aculeatus, prickly fucus; fucus plicatus, *matted fucus; *atriplex laciniata, *frosted sea orache, &c.: while, in reference to its conchology, the *bulla hydatis, *the *helix cingenda, *and the *serpula granulata *have been found on the. surrounding shore.

In the immediate vicinity of Balbriggan is Hampton Hall, before alluded to, the residence of George Alexander Hamilton, Esq. It extends along the shore from Balbriggan to Skerries, contains about 500 acres, is well wooded, greatly diversified with hill and valley; and, through vistas of the woods, commands sea views of exceeding beauty. The house, which was erected by Baron Hamilton, is a handsome building; the pleasure-grounds and hot-houses extensive.

Although the noble family of” Hamilton” is not strictly connected by ancient tenure with the last mentioned locality, yet has it been for upwards of a century wedded to Balbriggan with the more morally gratifying, and, in Ireland, unfortunately rare distinction, of giving to its inhabitants an inheritance of landlords, who, amidst all the discouragements of Irish trade, and dissensions of Irish society, have laboured to maintain the prosperity and happiness of their tenantry. The following memoir of [470]

Ch. 27. The Hamilton Family.