Balbriggan (/bælˈbrɪɡən/; Irish: Baile Brigín, pronounced [ˌbˠalʲə ˈbʲɾʲɪɟiːnʲ]) is a coastal town in Fingal, in the northern part of the traditional County Dublin, Ireland.

Following linguistic logic, however, both with vowels and syllabic stress, this would presume an English name closer to Ballybrig(g)een.

The town's name is more likely 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,[3] and the aforementioned River Bracken.

[citation needed] 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.

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.

[5] 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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[6] 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.

[citation needed] 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 policeman 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.

[7] Two residents of Balbriggan, dairyman Séamus Lawless and barber Sean Gibbons, were bayoneted to death by the Black and Tans during the attack.

[8] After it occurred, the attack received international attention due to Balbriggan's close proximity to foreign news correspondents based in Dublin.

Commuter rail services serve Balbriggan railway station, which opened on 25 May 1844 and closed for goods traffic on 2 December 1974.

Balbriggan experienced a population boom in the early part of the 2000s as a result of the large demand for housing within the wider Dublin region.

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.

Balbriggan is also the location of a Sunshine Home[11] 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.

[citation needed] Ardgillan Community College was closed abruptly in October 2018 after adverse fire safety findings.

The latter was established in late 1999 and consists of a women's and a men's senior team which play at the Ring Commons Sports Centre.

The clubhouse includes a meeting hall, as well as offices, a kitchen, changing rooms, toilets, showers and a bar.

[citation needed] In the Church of Ireland structure, Balbriggan forms part of a combined parish with Balrothery and Balscadden.

[38] The vampire Cassidy, one of the main characters in Garth Ennis's comic book series Preacher, was born in Balbriggan in 1900.

[39] Jacek, the lead character in the novel Pantha rhei[40] by Kamil Brach, discovers that his biography has changed after travelling back from the future.

While searching for his "new" past he discovers accidentally that his alter ego from his reality lived with his fiancée in Balbriggan, and his disappearance didn't go unnoticed.