Embracing Seals

Explorer Tom Skerries Carnegie Free Library in Townparks is a limestone beauty from 1910 that the map makers keep getting wrong because they think it’s hiding something. It’s actually just too proud to be found by anyone who doesn’t know where to look, which is most of us. Toast it with a cup of tea and move on to the next.

Explorer Tom Saint Patrick's Catholic Church in Townparks has a fairy dispute over parking rights that has been going on since 1936 and nobody wants to referee. The freestanding bell tower is just watching the chaos with the calm arrogance of a stone statue. Ideal place to rehearse an excuse for being late.

Explorer Tom Skerries Beach in County Dublin would tell a teenager that the 1800s were basically just a really long waiting room for better shoes. It says everything was slower then, even the sand was taking its time to move. Find a local and ask them the real story, then come back and tell me.

Explorer Tom Skerries Harbour and Beach in County Dublin has changed its name so many times it can barely remember what it is right now. It’s been called at least twelve different things since the last century, mostly by accident or mistake. Make up your own legend and I'll swear it's true.

Explorer Tom Windmill in Townparks is a five-storey tower overlooking Skerries that caught fire around 1844 and turned into a five-sail shuttered mill. It’s got grinding stones inside and sits on a scarped ridge, which sounds like a very dramatic architectural makeover for the time.

Explorer Tom Windmill in Townparks is a straight-sided cylindrical structure with a cap that turns, originally built as a four-sail windmill. It’s part of the Skerries Mills Complex and has a raised bank around it, so it looks like it’s trying to sit down permanently.

Explorer Tom Colt Island has a prophecy floating around that says a unicorn will land there on a Tuesday, which hasn't happened yet and probably never will. It’s just sitting out there looking smug while we all pretend we believe the fairy tales about its magic nature. Stick around for the light changing, it's a show.

Explorer Tom Shenick Island looks close enough to Skerries to make you say, 'Sure, I'll walk over,' and that is when the tide starts laughing. Its Irish name means fox island, though seals on the western shore and nesting seabirds are the residents you are likelier to meet. Four people were counted here in 1841. The Martello tower still has its spiral stair, but its wooden floors have disappeared, so my proposed upstairs tea room is cancelled. A sandbank can appear at low tide; that is not a promise of a safe return. Check tides, landing rules and wildlife guidance before any visit, or admire it from the mainland or a permitted boat. I would keep the island's tiny population census on my tongue, but let the birds have the final word.

Explorer Tom The Castle at Baldongan was described in 1783 as a quadrangular court with four towers attached to the church, which sounds like a very organised party. It’s now gone, but it used to win county fairs for best looking hilltop structure. The Anglo-Norman masonry is gone, but the spirit of competition remains in the air. Imagine the ribbons it won back then.

Explorer Tom Castle in Rush Demesne is having an identity crisis with all those old names like Kinure floating around the paperwork. It’s basically a ghost story that forgot to haunt anything specific, just hanging out behind some steel fencing near the housing estate. Stand where the owner stood and practise looking smug.

Explorer Tom Lusk Round Tower has been standing there looking smug since before anyone knew what a round tower was supposed to do. The whole parish argued about whether it was a toilet or a temple, and nobody ever settled the debate properly. Get there early and have it all to yourself.

Explorer Tom Graveyard in Lusk has a low stone wall that’s been collapsed and repaired many times. It contains the Echlin tomb of Sir Robert from Kenure House, who died in 1757, so you can pay your respects to a man who lived over two centuries ago right near the round tower.