Structure in Miltonsfields

Explorer Tom Airside Retail Park has a New Year's resolution to stop pretending it’s an airport and just admit it’s a big car park with aspirations. It’s got that smell of hot asphalt and regret, which is basically the national scent of County Dublin if you ask me, so enjoy it while it lasts. Tell the kids it's a castle. Close enough.

Explorer Tom Water pump in Townparks is missing a few pieces of itself. There's even a stone trough next to it that looks lonely without the full setup. But it still has that Tonge and Taggart plaque for style points!

Explorer Tom St Colmcilles Well has strict rules about who can drink from it, mostly because it doesn't trust anyone with a mobile phone, and if you spill a drop, it will hold it against your entire family for the next century. It's not just water; it's liquid judgment wrapped in a stone circle that smells faintly of old pennies and regret. Go with someone who loves old stuff and watch them melt.

Explorer Tom Saint Columb's Well in Townparks has a freestanding cast-iron water pump from 1890 that’s probably rusty but still proud. The rubble stone building is gable-fronted and looks like it’s keeping secrets. Don’t drink from the well unless you want to taste history; it’s rich!

Explorer Tom St. Columbs Well in Townparks would order extra vinegar and salt if it could walk into a chipper, mostly because it has spent centuries curing sore eyes for people who needed a break. It’s tucked away off the road looking like it’s waiting for St Columba to come back and collect his unpaid parking tickets. Pretend you're a lost aristocrat, nobody will check.

Explorer Tom Round Tower in Swords Glebe. This four-storey tower has a later reconstruction on top. It’s like wearing a new hat on an old head. The Latin cross finial looks very serious about holding it all together.

Explorer Tom Swords Round Tower heritage attraction in County Dublin was saved by a hero nobody remembers anymore, who probably just tripped over a rock at the right moment to stop a falling beam from crushing it. It is the ideal place to stand around and rehearse an excuse for being late to work while looking very thoughtful.

Explorer Tom Tower, Castle and Chapel in Townparks is holding a grudge against its neighbours over something daft like a boundary wall from the twelfth century. The Archbishop built it to look important, and honestly, the chapel still looks like it’s judging your shoe choices. Get a photo with it before it gets a better agent.

Explorer Tom Swords Castle was built for an archbishop, which rather ruins my idea that clergy always favoured modest houses. The Dublin archbishops began this large manor enclosure in the early thirteenth century near the Ward River. It had fallen into disrepair in places by the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, then found other uses as power changed around Swords. I would have offered to mend a wall; the stonemasons would have hidden the tools. Modern repair has been gradual, which helps explain why one part can look ready to welcome you while another still asks for patience. The site is protected and partly open under tour arrangements, so check current access rather than testing a closed door. Look for the scale of the enclosure before getting distracted by one tower. Even an archbishop needed more space than I would have guessed.

Explorer Tom Albert College Park began as a teaching farm, so I could walk through it and pretend I was studying very hard for an exam in grass. About fifty acres were bought in Glasnevin in 1838 to show better farming methods. Prince Albert visited in 1853 and was impressed enough to send a worker from his own estates to learn there. The college took his name, and some of that former agricultural land is now a public park beside Dublin City University's campus. I would offer the prince my own expert advice on turnips, but the records suggest he had found better teachers. Use the public gates, check current opening and share the paths. Look across the lawns with the old fields in mind. A lesson farm became a place for everybody to take a breath.

Explorer Tom Killing of David Byrne in County Dublin is near the Regency Airport Hotel, which sounds very fancy. The death happened close to a main route. Take a pic of the hotel and pretend you’re checking in for good.