Important aspects of the past events and foibles of the nation would remain forgotten and unrecorded but for the enthusiasm and dedicated work of local historical societies.
A glance at the weekly "What's On" column in this newspaper always gives a tantalizing glimpse of the activities of local societies, with lectures dealing with such diverse subjects as "Connacht Protestants at War" or "Post-Medieval Pottery in Ireland".
Last summer's commemoration of the arrival of the railway in Bray 150 years ago is the inspiration for the latest publication (Journal No 5) of one of the most active of the local societies, the Bray Cualann Historical Society. The railway transformed Bray from a small fishing village to an elegant Victorian seaside resort and had a significant impact on the lives of thousands living along its route. As the editor of the journal, Eileen Murray, remarks, today's commuters will read with envy that it was once possible to complete the journey from Bray to Dublin in 20 minutes.
The line ran originally from Harcourt Road in south inner Dublin via Dundrum, Stillorgan, Carrickmines and Shankill. A new terminus was opened at Harcourt Street in 1859 and the line was thereafter known as the Harcourt Street Line. In the keynote article Brian Mac Aongusa, author of The Harcourt Street Line: Back on Track, recalls that steam, electric and diesel trains operated on the route. Steam was used until 1932 but from then until 1949 two-coach electric battery trains operated most of the services.
The vehicles were known as Drumm trains, after Dr James Drumm of University College, Dublin. He and his team developed rechargeable batteries capable of driving the trains at 45mph. When steam services were curtailed all over the country during the second World War because of the scarcity of coal the Drumm trains were able to maintain a full schedule on the Harcourt Street Line.
Apart from the daily commuter traffic many people used the line to travel to special events. Mac Aongusa records that 3,000 racegoers travelled each day to the meetings at Leopardstown and on one baking hot summer's day in 1955 more than 4,000 city-dwellers used the line to get to the seaside. Another popular trip for Dubliners was the evening "Dance Excursion" to the Arcadia Ballroom just opposite Bray station; all-in tickets for train and dance were available at stations along the route.
Mac Aongusa asserts that CIÉ steadily ran down the line in the 1950s and expanded its bus services to the south Dublin suburbs. The decision to close the line in 1958, he says, attracted little press coverage and was generally accepted as inevitable. (Now the line has been reopened in part with the Luas clanking along its new track from St Stephen's Green as far as Sandyford.)
The last run of the train on December 31st, 1958 is described in an article by the late Christy Brien, a founding member of the Bray society. Harcourt Street, he observed, had a rather forlorn look about it, though it was decked out in holly and coloured lights. "After some time on the platform," he wrote, "I suddenly noticed why the place seemed bare - all the big hoarding for advertising had been stripped from the walls. This, more than anything else, brought home to me the final act. It was like looking into an empty house."
A brighter note is struck by Jim Lynch, who describes the 150th commemoration ceremony at Bray station last summer, attended by a number of men and women who had worked on the Harcourt Street Line. A "Mr William Dargan" stepped forward to blow out the 150 candles on a massive birthday cake.
The real William Dargan, an entrepreneur and railway enthusiast, was one of those responsible for bringing the railway to Bray in the first place. It was his vision and enterprise that transformed the town into a popular resort and his name crops up throughout the pages of the journal. In the 1860s he had a green esplanade laid out along the seafront and it quickly became the place to stroll and be seen. Unfortunately the esplanade was prone to flooding at high tide and it had to be replaced by a raised promenade in 1876. Until a few years ago a sandy beach ran alongside but this disappeared when tons of shingle had to be dumped on the shore to protect the promenade from erosion.
Dargan was also responsible for Bray's greatest Victorian treasure, the Turkish baths on Quinsborough Road. A Dr Richard Barter had opened Turkish baths as part of his hydrotherapy centre at Blarney, Co Cork. Dargan apparently sampled the facility and invited Barter to join him in erecting a similar establishment in Bray in 1859. According to K. Mary Davies, who writes authoritatively on the subject, Dargan spent a hefty £10,000 on this project. It was built in the Moorish style with granite from the nearby Dalkey quarries being used for the base and red-and-white bricks for the walls. There were tall minarets at the corners and a 70-foot ornamental chimney to disperse the fumes from the coke-fired furnace.
Bathers passed through a series of rooms heated by flows of hot air, each room hotter than the last. When they emerged from the heat they had a body wash and a massage and then relaxed in a cooling chamber. Attendants were attired in long, scarlet robes and Turkish slippers.
The treatment was recommended for rheumatism, gout and tuberculosis and for promoting general good health. The baths, however, were not a success. There were medical arguments about the efficacy of the treatment and Davies contends that the short summer season contributed to the failure.
The baths were closed in 1865 but were reopened a year later as assembly rooms and leased to various bodies. The exotic structure's final use was as a cinema, the Picture House. It was demolished in 1980.