Fish-pond in Baldongan

Explorer Tom Baldongan Church looks from a distance like a castle that has decided to say prayers, and for once my foolish description is close to the plan. Near Skerries, an earlier church was granted to a priory around 1190. The later fortified building was rectangular with towers at its corners, giving it a distinctly defensive air. Ownership passed through church and noble hands over the following centuries. I would offer to settle every medieval dispute by sharing tea, but they clearly built thicker walls instead. This is a ruined religious site with old masonry and likely burials, so check lawful access and stay out of unsafe areas. Stand back to see how the towers change the church's outline. It is a reminder that worship and worry sometimes lived behind the same walls.

Explorer Tom Church or chapel in Baldongan has an imaginary fan club that meets every Tuesday to argue about whether the spiral stairs are cool or dizzying. The tower stands there with its six bays, looking like a stone chess piece left on a board by a bored giant. Look serious, nod slowly, you're basically an expert now.

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 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 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 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 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 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 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.

Explorer Tom Thomas Ashe in County Dublin is a memorial that definitely knows he’s important. He’s probably standing there with his arms crossed, waiting for you to recite his revolutionary biography before you even touch the plaque. Keep it brief, yeah?