Exploring Balbriggan Town in IRELAND

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Balbriggan (/bælˈbrɪɡən/; Irish: Baile Brigín) is a coastal town in Fingal, in the northern part of County Dublin, Ireland, approximately 34 km from Dublin City. The 2016 census population was 21,722 for Balbriggan and its environs.

ETYMOLOGY
According to P.W. Joyce, the name arises from Baile Breacain, which literally means "Brecan's Town". Brecan is a common medieval first name and there are several other Brackenstowns in Ireland. There is also a possible link to the local Bracken River, in which case the name could derive from breicín, meaning "little trout".

Many locals, however, have traditionally felt that Baile Brigín means "Town of the Little Hills", due to the relatively low hills that surround the town.

The town's name could be derived from the word brecan, as the area was part of a Medieval kingdom known as Brega, populated by a tribe or clan known as the Bregii, and the aforementioned River Bracken.

GEOGRAPHY
The River Bracken, also known as the Matt River, which flows through the town, once formed a lake known locally as "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.

On the northern edge of the town, the small Bremore River comes to the sea just beyond the Martello Tower.

AMENITIES
The town is coastal and has a sandy beach. It was at one time a holiday destination for people from Dublin city.

Balbriggan is also the location of a Sunshine Home which aims to provide a holiday to underprivileged children from the Greater Dublin area. The home is operated by the Sunshine Fund, a unique branch of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul which provides week-long summer breaks for children aged 7 to 11 from disadvantaged parts of Dublin, Meath, Wicklow and Kildare. The purpose-built home has hosted these holidays since 1935, with over 100,000 young people having passed through their doors.