What is recorded here

The Great Windmill rose fifteen metres above the Skerries coast, its five shuttered sails spanning twenty metres after a fire around 1844 forced a rebuild from four to five blades. Inside the tapering tower, grinding stones still sit on the spindle, waiting for grain and wind that no longer come. The mill vanished without a trace except a scarped ridge where its tail pole once cut a track through the earth. Perhaps it occupied the same rise as a windmill leased with monastic lands in 1578, meaning the site has been catching Atlantic wind for centuries while human hands moved in and out of it.

On a prominent rise overlooking Skerries. It is a five-storey, tapering tower (int. diam.4.5m) with diametrically opposed entrances at north and south and three pairs of windows in the east and in the southwest. The 'Great' Windmill' measures c.15m in height; diam. sail c.20m. It was originally built as a four-sail windmill but following a fire c.1844 was transformed into a 5 sail shuttered (Ní Ghabhláin 1987). Contains two pairs of grinding stones and hoist. There is a pair of millstones on the spindle in the interior. Shown in a circular enclosure on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map. No trace of this today except for a scarped ridge. Probably constructed as a track for the tail pole (Ní Ghabhláin 1987, 30). Possibly occupies the site of a windmill mentioned in lease of monastic lands of Holmpatrick to Sir Thomas of Baggotrath in 1578 (D'Alton 1976 (2nd edition) 225). Restored by Fingal County Council. Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Date of upload: 14 November 2014

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