Point Depot Bears

Explorer Tom St Maelruain's Church in Tallaght has a roof so spiky I think it’s trying to poke the sky in the eye. It’s got that Gothic vibe going on, but I bet if it had Instagram it would just post photos of its own shadows. Give it a nod and tell it to keep those spikes sharp.

Explorer Tom Font in Tallaght. Known as St. Maelruan's Griddle and Loaf, this basin has uneven sides. I can almost smell the bread baking! If it baked a loaf, it must have been a very heavy, granite one.

Explorer Tom The Presbytery in Tallaght is a pair of semi-detached houses from 1825 with an unusual attic dormer. It’s roughcast and symmetrical, sitting right by the church. Check if the door is ajar and listen for prayers.

Explorer Tom Belgard Castle has a fairy dispute over parking rights that has been going on since the 15th century and shows no sign of ending. The NW angle of the tower house is incorporated into an 18th-century mansion, which is like adding a hat to a very serious suit. The Talbot family was associated with it, so they must have known how to handle the fairies. Be dramatically windswept if you stand near it.

Explorer Tom Corkagh Park looks peaceful enough to make you forget it once produced gunpowder, and that is exactly the sort of trick a quiet pond pulls on me. Mills worked on the old Clondalkin estate in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. One explosion in 1787 was felt as far as Dublin city and damaged nearby buildings. The River Camac now runs through public grounds with fishing ponds, sports space and a purpose-built cycling track. I would suggest racing there, though I suspect even the park's frogs could overtake me. Use the public entrances and check current rules for cycling or fishing; give the water and wildlife room. Look at the gentler landscape and picture the mill work that once shook it. Corkagh has changed its noise very much for the better.