St. Bride's: Located on the eastern side of Placentia Bay, in an area known as the Cape Shore, St. Bride's is on the shores of Distress Cove, north of Cape St. Mary's.

According to contributors to the ENL, "the settlement appeared on carly maps as Distress, perhaps a reference to the dangerous nature of the Cape Shore, which is bordered by rocks and shoals, although M.F. Howley believed the name to have been derived from a French appellation -. La Stresse.

From the town's school website, a bit more history is given regarding the name's origin: "The first settlers to arrive in St. Bride's came from Ireland. They were a part of Ronald Sweetmans's fishing crew in the early 1800's.

At that time St. Bride's was called La Stress Cove. The French People named this area La Stress Cove because of its green and fertile plains.

Then, just like most other French names, La Stress was later given an English conversion - Distress. This name, not being a pleasant sound, was later changed to St. Brides's.

As most of the eady settlers were of Irish origin, the name of the community was changed to honor St. Brigid of Ireland. The change occurred around 1870. According to Wikipedia contributors, Brigid of Ireland or Saint Brigid of Kildare (c. 451525) is one of Ireland's patron saints.

She is best known as an early Irish Christian nun, an abbess, and a foundress of several monasteries of nuns.

In the recent Census of 2016, the population of St. Bride's was 252, which reflected a substantial decrease of 18,2% from the 308 recorded five years earlier in 2011. When the fishery industry was at is peak, there were as many as 600 people, mostly working at the local fish plant.

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/StBrides