placenamesBree
Brí
Records of collective action connect Bree with rural reform and the practical costs of communications.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Brí · Irish · main form · non-validated name
- Bree · English · main form
Place & story
A beginning for the United Irishwomen
The Irish Countrywomen’s Association traces its foundation to Anita Lett at Bree in May 1910, under the earlier name Society of the United Irishwomen. Its stated concerns included education and co-operative improvement of rural life. Wexford County Archive preserves two volumes of the Bree guild’s minutes covering 1911–14. Their survival records the local organisation’s early activity, although the catalogue alone does not disclose the decisions made at individual meetings. [2] [3]
Sharing the risk of an extension
Council minutes filed in November 1935 record an order of 16 October concerning telegraph and telephone services at Bree Post Office. It made Bree electoral division the area liable for losses incurred through a Board of Health and Public Assistance guarantee. The undertaking specified a sum not exceeding £53 and a seven-year term. This was a guarantee associated with extending the service, rather than a record that the district spent that amount on equipment or a precise date when telephones first became available. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Bree. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Brief History: foundation in Bree, May1910 · Irish Countrywomen’s Association
- Bree Guild minute books, IE WXCA/P317,1911–14 · Wexford County Archive
- Wexford County Council minute book20: November1935file, page57,PDFpage61 · Wexford County Council; original1935minutes, county archive digital copy
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.