Bray Town: Gateway to County Wicklow
December 16th, 2000
Bray town with an estimated population of 22,207 people and situated south of the capital city Dublin is generally recognised as the gateway to County Wicklow. Bray lays claim to being the longest established seaside town in the county with a 1.6km long sand and shingle beach and a wonderful spacious esplanade fronting the entire length of the beach walk. Bray has from an architectural point of view some wonderful examples of Georgian houses with the majority of them still intact and lived in.
Bray Head provides the backdrop the town and dominates the panoramic views from the seafront
Bray Seafront
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rising to a height of 241 meters above sea level. A magnificent view can be had form the top of this mountain across the bay and into the surrounding mountains which form the backdrop to Brays geographical positioning on the East Coast.
Brays history dates back over 800 years and historians draw attention to the river Dargle as being the main contributory factor in securing the towns status and position in the county. However the arrival of the modern railway system in the 19th century opened up new commercial and tourist avenues to the town establishing Bray as a modern seaside resort. Bray station was built in 1854 and was the centre of the Victorian town. As for present times Bray is only 25 minutes from the capital using the Dublin Area Rapid Transport light rail link otherwise known as the DART.
In fact by the middle of the 19th century Bray's tourism name was so established that it was know as the Brighton of Ireland. This in part was helped by the town's links to its medieval past and of course it's outstanding examples of Georgian and Victorian architecture. Examples abound on Adelaide Road, Florence Road, and Wyndham Park, all of which are tree-lined stretches of Victorian and Edwardian houses with their architectural detail still intact.
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