[edit]
There is no consensus about when the foundation of the town occurred, other than there may always have been a small settlement of fishermen, weavers and some sort of agricultural trade post.
Medieval battle[edit]
According to Ware, a medieval annalist, a battle took place at Balbriggan on Whitsun-eve, 1329, between the combined forces of John de Bermingham, Earl of Louth (who had been elevated to the 'palatine dignity' of the county) and Richard, Lord of Malahide, and several of their kinsmen, and the forces of local rival families, the Verduns, Gernons and Savages, who were opposed to the elevation of the earl. In this event, the former, with 60 of their English followers, were killed.[citation needed]
18th century[edit]
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 Summertime by several genteel people for the benefit of bathing".[citation needed]
Balbriggan rose from a small fishing village to a place of manufacturing and commercial importance in part due to local landowner and judge George Hamilton, Baron of the Court of Exchequer, who, in 1780, established factories to aid in the manufacturing of cotton. He also improved the harbour by building the pier, which was completed in 1763.
19th century[edit]
St. Georges Church tower, 1813
Lewis's Topographical Directory of Ireland, from 1837, refers to Balbriggan as follows:
A seaport, 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 3,016 inhabitants.
The inhabitants are partly employed in the fishery, but principally in the manufacture of cotton; there are two large factories, the machinery of which is worked by steam-engines and water-wheels of the aggregate power of 84 horses, giving motion to 7,500 spindles, and spinning upon the average about 7,400 lb (3,356.58 kg). of cotton yarn per week. More than 300 persons are employed in these factories, to which are attached blue dye-works; and in the village and neighbourhood are 942 hand-looms employed in the weaving department. The principal articles made at present are checks, jeans, calicoes and fustians. The village is also celebrated for the manufacture of the finest cotton stockings, which has been carried on successfully since its first establishment about 40 years since; there are 60 frames employed in this trade, and the average production is about 60 dozen per week. There are on the quay a large corn store belonging to Messrs. Frost & Co., of Chester, and some extensive salt-works; and in the village is a tanyard.
The fishery, since the withdrawing of the bounty, has very much diminished: there are at present only 10 wherries or small fishing boats belonging to the port. The village carries on a tolerably brisk coasting trade: in 1833, 134 coal vessels, of the aggregate burden of 11,566 tons, and 29 coasting vessels of 1,795 tons, entered inwards, and 17 coasters of 1,034 tons cleared outwards, from and to ports in Great Britain. The harbour is rendered safe for vessels of 150 tons' burden by an excellent pier, completed in 1763, principally by Baron Hamilton, aided by a parliamentary grant, and is a place of refuge for vessels of that burden at 3⁄4 tide. A jetty or pier, 420 feet (130 metres) long from the N. W. part of the harbour, with a curve of 105 feet (32 metres) in a western direction, forming an inner harbour in which at high tide is 14 feet (4.3 metres) of water, and affording complete shelter from all winds, was commenced in 1826 and completed in 1829, at an expense of £2,912–7s–9d, of which the late Fishery Board gave £1,569, the Marquess of Lansdowne £100, and the remainder was subscribed by the late Rev. Geo. Hamilton, proprietor of the village. At the end of the old pier, there is a lighthouse.
The Drogheda or Grand Northern Trunk railway from Dublin, for which an act has been obtained, is intended to pass along the shore close to the village and to the east of the church. The market is on Monday, and is abundantly supplied with corn, of which great quantities are sent to Dublin and to Liverpool; and there is a market for provisions on Saturday. Fairs are held on the 29th of April and September, chiefly for cattle. A market house was erected in 1811, partly by subscription and partly at the expense of the Hamilton family. The village is the headquarters of the constabulary police force of the county; and near it is a Martello tower with a coast guard station, which is one of the nine stations within the district of Swords. Petty sessions for the northeast division of the county are held here every alternate Tuesday.
The chapelry of St. George, Balbriggan was founded by the late Rev. G. Hamilton, of Hampton Hall, who in 1813 granted some land and settled an endowment, under the 11th and 12th of Geo. III., for the establishment of a perpetual curacy; and augmentation of £25 per annum has been recently granted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners from Primate Boulter's fund. In 1816 a chapel was completed, at an expense of £3,018–2s–2d, of which £1,400 was given by the late Board of First Fruits, £478-15s–2d., was raised by voluntary subscriptions of the inhabitants and £1,139-7s–0d., was given by the founder and his family. This chapel, which was a handsome edifice with a square embattled tower, and contained monuments to the memory of R. Hamilton, Esq., and the Rev. G. Hamilton, was burned by accident in 1835, and the congregation assembled for divine service in a school-room until it shall be restored, for which purpose the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have lately granted £480. The living is in the patronage of G. A. Hamilton, Esq.
There is a chapel belonging to the R.C. Union or district of Balrothery and Balbriggan, also a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. A parochial school and dispensary are in the village.
The population at the time of the 1841 census was 2,959 inhabitants.
Milling[edit]
Balbriggan was the location of the 19th century Smith's Stocking Mill, which made stockings as well as men's "Long-Johns" called Balbriggans. These are often mentioned in John Wayne films – 'he put his balbriggans on' – and both Queen Victoria and the Czarina of Russia also wore "Balbriggans". Balbriggan's strong textile connections also include the linen & cotton manufacturing of Charles Gallen & Company, which in 1870, purchased the existing weaving mill and associated facilities built by Baron Hamilton. The firm became famous as the finest linen weavers in Ireland and had customers all over the world. They were also suppliers of linens to the Vatican, Embassies of Ireland and the US, and fine hotels worldwide. The business continues today from another location as the old mill in the town centre has been redeveloped.[citation needed]
Sack of Balbriggan[edit]
Burnt out building following the Sack of Balbriggan, September 1920
Main article: Sack of Balbriggan
During the Irish War of Independence, members of the Black and Tans (former British soldiers recruited into the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) as special constables) stationed at the nearby Gormanston Camp attacked Balbriggan in reprisal for the murder of an RIC Deputy Inspector Peter Burke on 20 September 1920. The event, known as the sack of Balbriggan, resulted in the destruction of 54 houses and a hosiery factory along with the looting of four pubs by the Black and Tans. Two residents of Balbriggan, dairyman Séamus Lawless and barber Sean Gibbons, were bayoneted to death by the Black and Tans during the attack. After it occurred, the attack received negative international attention due to Balbriggan's close proximity to foreign news correspondents based in Dublin. Images of the burnt out town were published around the world causing international outrage. A delegation from the United States pledged to rebuild thirty homes in the village and a local factory.
