Skerries (Irish: Na Sceirí, meaning 'rocky islands') is a coastal town in Fingal, in the north of County Dublin, Ireland.

Red Island, Mill Hill, Hillside, the nearby Ardgillan Park and Demesne, Barnageeragh and to a lesser extent Baldungan Castle, provide vantages overlooking the town.

This forms an almost perfect arc through the major tall secular structures in the town with the Martello tower on Shenick at the centre.

When the invaders landed, they formed ranks and at low tide marched to the mainland, where they were promptly defeated at the ancient settlement of Knocknagin, north of Balbriggan.

[citation needed] As noted, in AD 432, St. Patrick landed on Church Island, and according to the Annals of Inisfallen Saint Mochonna founded a monastery shortly afterwards.

[5] In AD 797, the Vikings (or Danes) carried out one of their earliest raids in Ireland when they plundered the monastery on Church Island.

[5] In 1148, Saint Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, arranged a synod on St. Patrick's island to settle differences between the Irish Christians and the Pope.

[5] In 1320, the manor of Skerries was granted to Sir Michael le Veel; his descendants Anglicised their name to Calf.

In the autumn of 1583, while the Catholic Church was illegal and underground, Archbishop Dermot O'Hurley arranged for a sea captain to smuggle him into Ireland from the French port of Le Croisic and drop him upon Holmpatrick Strand in Skerries.

Comparisons between maps of Skerries drawn in 1703 and 1760 suggest that the Hamilton family was responsible for setting out the streets of the town as they are today.

[citation needed] During the Irish Civil War in 1922, senior Anti-Treaty IRA leader Harry Boland was mortally wounded, officially while resisting arrest, by two officers of the National Army inside his lodgings at the Skerries Grand Hotel.

Now operated as a local amenity and tourist attraction, the sails on one of the windmills were damaged during storms in January 2007, but subsequently repaired.

[17] In common with much of Dublin's hinterland, Skerries saw growth in residential property and associated prices during the late 1990s and early 21st century.

They were to serve as protection from Napoleonic French armies (in the scenario of an invasion) and as an early warning system against an attack.

[18] In Flann O'Brien's book The Dalkey Archive, Skerries is the location of the narrator's meeting with James Joyce.

Casey, one of Reegan's subordinate officers in John McGahern's first novel, The Barracks, is described as having previously been stationed in Skerries where he also met his wife, Teresa.

In conversation with Elizabeth Reegan, the novel's protagonist, Casey describes his "great life there, near the city; the market gardening, places you couldn't throw a stone without breaking glass", while Teresa recalls the evening she met her husband: "You could still hear the music from the pavilion and it was comin' across from Red Island too, Mick Delahunty playing there that night.

[citation needed] Singer-songwriter Ryan O'Shaughnessy originates from Skerries, and represented Ireland in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.

The legend then tells that Patrick took away the people of Skerries' ability to speak, reducing them to shrieking and bleating like goats and it was only when they admitted their crime that their voices returned.