Skerries, Na Sceirí, Co. Dublin

Na Sceirí · Co. Dublin

Twelve pubs, two windmills, five islands. Skerries has always been its own thing.

Skerries is the best-functioning small seaside town in north County Dublin. It has the beaches, the harbour, the pubs, a heritage site that could hold its own anywhere in Ireland, and the quiet stubbornness of a town that has always known what it is.

The mills are the thing most people don't expect. Two windmills - one with four sails, one with five, both working - and a watermill from the 13th century, all on one site with a millpond and wetlands around them. Milling has been happening on this spot since the early 12th century. You can watch flour being ground on guided tours and buy the bag on the way out.

The offshore islands are the other thing. Five of them, a short distance from shore. St Patrick's Island has a monastic ruin from the 6th century, founded in the wake of the saint's visit to the area. Rockabill - two rocks out at sea - is one of Ireland's most important tern breeding sites and is strictly off limits. The others are accessible. The harbour at low tide, with the islands sitting offshore and the mills on the hill behind you, is one of those views that makes north Dublin feel like somewhere people might actually want to go.

Don't come on a summer bank holiday weekend if you mind a queue. Come on a Wednesday in May and the whole place is yours.

Population

~11,000

Pubs

12and counting

Walk score

Harbour to mills in twenty minutes

Coords

53.5796° N, 6.1081° W

01 / 08

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 Skerries Mills

Two windmills and a watermill on one site.

Skerries Mills is unusual in having two windmills and a water mill, all restored and working, on the same site. Managed as a not-for-profit heritage centre, every entrance fee goes back into the machinery.

Stories & lore → 02 The islands

Five offshore. One belongs to St Patrick, allegedly.

Colt Island, St Patrick's Island, Shenick's Island, and the Rockabill lighthouse rocks sit offshore. Rockabill is a protected tern colony. The others you can walk to at low tide or kayak to. Local tradition says St Patrick rested on the island that carries his name.

Walks & outings → 03 The harbour

Working boats, not just pleasure craft.

The harbour is still a fishing harbour - you can watch the catches come in. The Blue Bar and Stoop Your Head sit at the water's edge. South Beach and Red Island strand are a five-minute walk from the pier.

Walks & outings →

02 / 08

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

Blue Bar

Seafood, view, sociable

Pub & restaurant, harbour-side

Perched at the edge of Skerries Harbour. Order the chowder if it's on. The view from the window is the price of admission.

Stoop Your Head

Relaxed, family-run

Pub & restaurant, harbour-side

Family-run, over twenty years on the harbour. Fresh fish, reliable pints. The name requires you to duck at the door, which sets the tone.

Joe May's

Locals, no tourism

Traditional local

One of the twelve. Gets on with being a pub without much fuss. Good for a pint and a seat.

The Windmill Bar

Town-centre, busy

Pub & food

Centrally located, busy on weekends. Does the job.

03 / 08

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
5Rock	Wood-fired restaurant	€€	On Skerries harbour, with a wood-burning oven doing pizzas, steaks, and local seafood. Sits right at the water. Worth booking on a summer weekend.
Stoop Your Head	Pub restaurant	€€	Same reliable kitchen it has been for over twenty years. The seafood chowder is the one to order.
Olive Café & Deli	Café & deli	€	Vegetarian-friendly, good sandwiches, proper coffee. A solid daytime stop before the mills or the beach.

04 / 08

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Nine hundred years of milling

Skerries Mills

Flour has been milled on this site since at least the 12th century, when the Priory of Holmpatrick held the lands. The five-sail windmill is unique in Ireland. The four-sail mill sits on the site of an ancient fort and dates from the 15th century (c. 1460), predating the monastery closures by almost a century. The watermill is 13th-century. All three are working. The site is run as a not-for-profit social enterprise. Entry fees fund the restoration. Every bag of stone-ground flour you buy is doing actual work.

The saint, the goat, and the monks

St Patrick's Island

Local tradition holds that St Patrick visited the Skerries area in 432 AD and rested on the small island that now carries his name. The story most often told is the stolen goat - Patrick went to the mainland to preach, locals killed and ate his goat, and he expressed his displeasure before moving on. A monastic settlement was founded on the island in the 6th century. Vikings burned it in 797. The ruin is still visible at low tide.

The tern colony nobody visits

Rockabill Lighthouse

Two rocks four kilometres offshore - called The Cow and The Calf - carry a lighthouse built in 1860. The surrounding waters and rocks are a National Nature Reserve and one of the most important breeding sites in Europe for roseate terns. You cannot land. You can watch them from the shore on summer evenings with binoculars. The lighthouse keepers left in 1989 when it was automated. The terns stayed.

The peninsula that used to be an island

Red Island

Red Island was genuinely an island - separated from the mainland by tidal water - until land reclamation connected it. The grassy headland now carries a Martello tower from the Napoleonic period and a large playground. From the high point you can see all five of the offshore islands at once, which is the main reason to walk up there.

05 / 08

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Harbour to Shenick Strand loop Out from the harbour along South Beach, around Red Island, back via the town. The view of the mills from Red Island headland is the one to hold.

4 km loopdistance

1 hourtime

Skerries to Rush coastal path South along the cliff path toward Loughshinny and Rush. The Loughshinny Folds - rock strata crumpled by ancient geological forces - are visible in the cliffs en route. Good on a calm day; exposed in wind.

7 km one waydistance

2 hourstime

Skerries Mills circuit The mill site itself has a pond loop through wetlands. Add a guided tour of the mills (check times at skerriesmills.ie) and you have a proper morning out.

1.5 kmdistance

30 min + tourtime

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Quiet, clean, the Rockabill terns are arriving. Mills open year-round. Beaches uncrowded.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

The harbour restaurants are worth the queue. The beaches get busy on warm days. Bank holiday weekends push the parking to its limit.

◐ Mind yourself

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The best months. Long views, big skies, the harbour back to working rather than posing. The mills are excellent in October light.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

The mills and most of the town stay open but activity slows. The coastal walks are spectacular in a winter storm if you are appropriately dressed.

◐ Mind yourself

07 / 08

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Treating the mills as a ten-minute stop

The guided tour takes an hour and earns every minute. The millpond walk is another thirty. Build half a day around the site and you will leave having actually been somewhere.

Driving to Red Island for the Martello tower and leaving

Red Island is five minutes from the harbour. Do it as part of a harbour-to-beach walk, not as a destination in itself. The tower is locked. The view is not.

The summer bank holiday

The town handles it, just. But the car parks, the beaches, and the harbour restaurants are all at capacity. Any other weekend is the same coast for a fraction of the stress.