Bray ( ) is a coastal town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It is situated about south of Dublin city centre on the east coast, and parts of the town's northern outskirts are in County Dublin. It has a population of 33,512 making it the tenth largest urban area within Ireland (as of the 2022 census). Bray is home to Ardmore Studios, and some light industry is located in the town, with some business and retail parks on its southern periphery. Commuter links between Bray and Dublin are provided by rail, Dublin Bus, and the M11 and M50 motorways. The town is in a townland and civil parish of the same name.
Originally developed as a planned resort town in the 19th century, Bray's popularity as a seaside resort was serviced by the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, which was extended to Bray in 1854. During the late 20th century, the town's use as a resort declined when foreign travel became an option for holiday-makers.
Etymology The name Bray is an anglicisation of the Irish , whose meaning is unclear. Liam Price suggested it may be an old name for the River Dargle or a tributary. In 1875 P. W. Joyce mistakenly ascribed the Irish name , an old word meaning "hill", referring in this case to Bray Head. In a 1905 Gaelic League publication advocating use of Irish-language postal addresses, Seosamh Laoide coined the name "Brí in Cualu", as part of his policy that "If the name of the town [in Irish] be one word, the [ancient Gaelic] territory should be added to it in the genitive case". and remained in use in the mid 20th century despite having been refuted by Liam Price and Osborn Bergin. was adopted by statute in 1975.
History
During the medieval period of Irish history, Bray was situated on the southern border of the Pale, and the coastal district was governed directly by the English crown from Dublin Castle. Inland, the countryside was largely under the control of Gaelic Chieftains, such as the O'Toole and O'Byrne clans. Bray features on the 1598 map "A Modern Depiction of Ireland, One of the British Isles" by Abraham Ortelius as "Brey". William Brabazon, 1st Earl of Meath purchased the Killruddery Estate in Bray in 1627 with the establishment of the Earl title.
The Dublin and Kingstown Railway, the first in Ireland, opened in 1834 and was extended as far as Bray in 1854. With the coming of the railway in the mid-19th century, the town grew to become a seaside resort. It was developed primarily by local entrepreneurs as a planned resort town, modelled on the seaside resorts of the English south-coast, specifically Brighton. Hotels and residential terraces were built in the vicinity of the seafront. Railway entrepreneur William Dargan developed Victorian Turkish baths, designed by architect and sculptor Richard Barter'Improvements in Bray: the Turkish bath' Freeman's Journal (14 October 1859) p.3 in a Moorish style at a cost of £10,000. They opened in 1859 and were demolished in 1980, though the baths closed long before that.
Bray was a popular destination from the 1860s onwards. While small amenities such as regattas, firework displays and band performances were plentiful in the town, Bray failed to secure the necessary capital to develop major attractions and sustain tourism, leading to its decline in the early 1900s. Pleasure piers such as the Palace Pier were a mainstay of resorts at that time. Despite repeated efforts, Bray never acquired such a pier and abandoned plans to build one in 1906. Additional planned amenities which were never built included a concert hall, a theatre, an exhibition centre, a marine aquarium, winter gardens and an electrified tramway along the seafront. It experienced a brief revival from British tourists in the years immediately after World War II. However, Bray's popularity as a seaside resort declined significantly when foreign travel became an option for holiday-makers. Its proximity to Dublin still makes it a popular destination for day-trippers from the capital.
Location
The town is situated on the east coast to the south of County Dublin. Shankill, County Dublin lies to the north, and Greystones, County Wicklow to the south. The village of Enniskerry lies to the west of the town, at the foot of the Wicklow Mountains. People participate in such sports as sailing, rowing, and swimming. The beach and seafront promenade are used by residents and visitors. While Bray's promenade and south beach is to a Blue Flag standard, the north beach has been affected by erosion and the leaching of a variety of toxic chemicals – including asbestos, rusted metal, plastics, and bricks – into the groundwater since the closure and sale of the former Bray Urban Council municipal landfill, immediately beside the beach, containing 200,000 tonnes or 104,000 cubic metres of waste. The dump was closed in 1968 and sold to Woodbrook golf club in 1992. By 2017, plans were being discussed to deal with the situation.
The River Dargle which enters the sea at the north end of Bray rises from a source near Djouce, in the Wicklow Mountains. Bray Head is situated at the southern end of the Victorian Promenade with paths leading to the summit and along the sea cliffs. The rocks of Bray Head are a mixture of greywackes and quartzite. There is a large cross at the summit.
Climate Bray has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb), similar to most other towns in Ireland, with few extremes of temperature and abundant precipitation year round. However, Bray is relatively sheltered from the prevailing south-westerly winds by the Wicklow Mountains and receives around of rainfall per year. The sunniest months on average are May and June, while October is by far the wettest. +Average sea temperature in Bray, County WicklowJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec Average Max (°C) Average Min (°C)
Access Rail A public transport network, both north into Dublin and south into County Wicklow and County Wexford, serves the town. Bray is on the Irish Rail DART Rail Network which stretches north to Malahide and Howth and south to Greystones. The town is also on the mainline InterCity and Commuter rail network which connects north to Connolly Station in Dublin city centre and further to Drogheda and Dundalk. To the south, the rail line goes through Arklow and Gorey before reaching Rosslare Europort. Bray's railway station is named after Edward Daly, an executed leader of the 1916 Easter Rising. Bray Station was opened on 10 July 1854. The Dublin and South Eastern Railway had two lines out from Bray into Dublin, the coastal line (formerly known as the Kingstown and Bray branch line) and the Harcourt Street line. The latter was closed in 1958 but most of it has been reopened as part of the Luas Green Line, which is proposed for an extension to Bray.
Road Bray lies along the M11 motorway corridor; an interchange at its northern side links with the M50 Dublin bypass.
Several bus companies pass through Bray: Dublin Bus, Go-Ahead Ireland, Bus Éireann, Aircoach, and St. Kevin's Bus Service to Glendalough. Dublin Bus and Go-Ahead Ireland are the two primary bus operators in the town operating service on behalf of the NTA. Bus services serving the town include the E1 which is routed from Ballywaltrim, just south of Bray, to Northwood via UCD and Dublin city centre. Other routes include the 45A/B, 84N, 131, 181, 185t, L1, L2, L12, L14, X1, and X2.
Wexford Bus also offer services to the village of Kilmacanogue, just to the south of Bray, with routes 740/A/X and UM11. Bus Éireann's routes 133 also serves Kilmacanogue, while route 131 stops at both Bray and Kilmacanogue.
Finnegan Bray formerly offered two local town services (routes 143 and 144, which finished on the 24th of January 2025, becoming part of route L14) as well as a night bus service from Dublin (route 984N), however, this was suspended in March 2020 due to Covid restrictions. It was discontinued in late 2022, with the company blaming "unfair competition from state subsidised services" in a Facebook post.
Air Dublin Airport is reachable by car via the M50, which passes to the west of Dublin City. Newcastle Aerodrome is the closest private airfield a short distance south of Bray.
Demography
According to the 2022 census, the population of Bray was 153,988. The majority of residents were born in Ireland (128,091) and held Irish citizenship (135,794), with smaller numbers born in the United Kingdom, Poland, India and other EU states.
By ethnicity, the population in 2022 was predominantly White Irish (125,699), with other groups including White Irish Travellers (887), Other White (13,867), Asian or Asian Irish (3,835), Black or Black Irish (844), and other ethnicities (2,380). A total of 6,476 persons did not state their ethnicity.
Local government
Bray is represented on Wicklow County Council by two local electoral areas. Bray East (4 seats) is approximately two-thirds of the town, while Bray West (4 seats) is the other third and includes the neighbouring villages of Enniskerry and Kilmacanogue. The electoral divisions of Bray East are Bray No. 1 Urban, Bray No. 2 Urban, Bray No. 3 Urban and Rathmichael (Bray). The electoral divisions of Bray West are Enniskerry, Kilmacanoge and Powerscourt. Bray Municipal District consists of both of these local electoral areas.;
The Bray Town Commissioners were established by a local act in 1866. The Earl of Meath was named in the act as the first chairman of the commissioners. In 1899, this body became an urban district council under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. At the same time, a portion of the town which had been in County Dublin was transferred to County Wicklow and the jurisdiction of the urban district. The boundary of the town was further extended in 1952 (taking in the area around Killruddery), in 1958 (taking in the area in Rathmichael which had been transferred the previous year from County Dublin to County Wicklow),; and in 1978 (extending the town to the west).
The urban district council became a town council in 2002. It was abolished by the Local Government Reform Act 2014, with the powers and functions of the town council given to the county council, but its functions could be administered by the new municipal district council created by the act.
Part of the northern Bray area lies within the local authority area of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, and forms part of the Shankill–Killiney local electoral area. The border between County Wicklow and County Dublin (Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown) lies along Old Connaught Avenue and runs down along and across the Dublin Road to Ravenswell, making all areas north of that line Bray, County Dublin.
Tourism
Bray is a long-established holiday resort dating back to the early 19th century. The Parliamentary gazetteer of 1846 described it thusly: The town has for many years been a favourite summer resort of the wealthier of the Dublin citizens and of the gentry from a large part of Ireland; and it possesses, in a state of high facility and polish, the various appliances required for their accommodation and comfort, whether as lodgers or as tourists. Handsome cottages ornees, boarding houses on different scales of economy, and furnished houses from the small abode to the luxurious mansion, abound both in the town and in its environs, for the special use of visitors.
Bray has numerous hotels and guesthouses, shops, restaurants and evening entertainment. The town also hosts a number of festival events. In the town's vicinity are an 18-hole golf courses, a tennis club, fishing, a sailing club and horse riding. Other features of Bray are the amusement arcades and the National Sealife Centre. It has a beach of sand and shingle which is over long, fronted by an esplanade and Bray Head, which rises from the coast, has views of mountains and sea. The concrete cross at the top of Bray head was erected in 1950 for the holy year.