Page 137 - Greystones Archaeological Historical Society

GREYSTONES ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL VOLUME 8

‘From this time (1879) onwards, attention had to be given
increasingly to the southern side of the Head, where the
storms were becoming a serious menace to the soft material
of “Morris’s Bank” - the steep hillside of clay in Rathdown
Lower barony. In 1882 an act was got for another diversion,
which however was not made until after the powers for it were
renewed in 1886. This was the “Rathdown Deviation” of
1888-9, 7 furlongs and 220 yards (sic) long, and it included a
new stone underbridge at Redford, replacing the original
“Ennis’s Bridge”.”

One extra

There is one rather extraordinary photograph on page 137 of
Derek’s 1993 book: an image of the level crossing that predated
the footbridge at the lower end of La Touche Road, on which not
a house has yet been built, but shows in the distance both the
house that was Fanning’s in my young days, and the Coastguard
Station and terrace. There is not a single obstruction except for
a low hedge near the current boundary of the Church of the Holy
Rosary. Everything about it speaks of it being a ‘Lawrence’
photo, but the exact number is unreadable.

What it suggests, whether Derek Paine’s date of 1870 is
correct or not, is how limited was the development of that end of
the town at the time the photo was taken.

A page accessible at www.buildingsofireland.ie gives the date
of building of the new coastguard station as circa 1875. Derek
Paine, however, in an entire section dedicated to coastguard
events and actions in his 2005 book [11] , gives an earlier date.
Under the banner ‘Greystones Coastguard Station, a
subheading on page fourteen reads: “Officers house and 7
cottages erected by Board of Works in 1872”’.

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