About Skerries

Stone-ground milling in Skerries dates back to the early 16th century. The Skerries Town Park is the site of the Skerries Mills, where you will find two heritage windmills and a stone watermill (www.skerriesmills.org). The windmills date from the 16th and 18th centuries, with the older mill sitting above a prehistoric fort on the town’s highest point. The second windmill, known as the Great Windmill of Skerries, features a five-sail design and is a popular symbol for Skerries. Guests can explore the mills and a large mill pound, quiet cornfield, and wet lands. At the four-storey watermill, you can attempt grinding and see an operating waterwheel. A café and a craft shop, as well as exhibits, are located at the watermill. Open year-round, guided tours of the mills are available daily.
Two granite Martello towers rest on Red Island and Shenick Island. The word Martello finds its origins in Corisca and the headland of the French island, Mortella, where towers defended approaches to the Gulf of Fiorenza. After an assault on Corsica in 1794, British military authorities impressed with the towers’ design commissioned a long chain of similar structures along the coasts of Ireland to prevent an invasion from France. Each tower has thick walls, a guardroom, an ammunition store, and a platform for cannons at the top. Over the years the tower on Red Island has been used as a private dwelling, tearooms, and a holiday camp.

A solitary tower and eroding walls are all that remains of Baldongan Castle, an imposing 13th century Anglo-Norman fortress. The ruins sit on a hill overlooking Loughshinny, a village south of Skerries. Erected on the site of an ancient fort, the castle was built by the Knights Templar. The castle had four square towers on each corner, one of which still stands. Two others were destroyed during the Confederacy Wars in 1642. The remains of a 15th century church rests adjacent to the castle.
To the northwest of Skerries is Ardgillan Castle

(www.ardgillanskerries.com), a lavish country-style house with castellated features dating from 1738. The ground floor rooms and kitchens are open to visitors, while the upper level is used for exhibitions. The grounds include trails through woodlands, and gardens with various species of roses, a Victorian conservatory, native Irish plants and a ‘Four Season’s garden with flowers that bloom at various times of the year. There is also a walled Victorian-styled kitchen garden with fruits, vegetables and flowers.