The site
The oldest legible gravestone at Holmpatrick was cut in 1520, for Peter Manne, prior of the Augustinian house that once stood here. That single dated slab is the reason this quiet graveyard on the edge of Skerries is worth a stop: little of the priory itself survives, but the stones that do are old, specific and easy to find. The site sits on raised ground in the middle of the town, 27 km north of Dublin, with the Irish Sea and its scatter of islands – St Patrick’s, Shenick, Colt and Rockabill – laid out beyond the wall.
Come for the two carved stones and the sea view. If you are picturing a ruined abbey to wander through, you will be disappointed: this is a working cemetery with one tower, not a roofless nave.
From St Patrick’s Island to the mainland
The community’s roots are offshore, on St Patrick’s Island, where a monastery is said to have been founded by St Mochonna in the 6th century. Viking raids – first recorded here in 798 – made the island an exposed place to live, and in 1220 the Augustinian Canons Regular moved across to the mainland, founding the priory that gave Holmpatrick its name. It ran as both monastery and parish church.
It grew wealthy. Medieval floor and roof tiles found on the site, similar to those from Swords Castle, point to a well-funded community, and by the 16th century the priory and its manor held an estimated 1,000 acres across Fingal.
The tower and its stones
One upstanding piece of old masonry remains: a square, three-storey tower with crenellations, set against the south wall of the graveyard. It survived because it was useful, kept as a mark for boats working into Skerries harbour long after the church it belonged to had gone.
Two stones are set into its walls, and they are the thing to look at:
- The abbot’s headstone (1520) – for Peter Manne, one of the priory’s last superiors, with a Latin inscription. It is among the earliest dated gravestones in Ireland.
- The Delahide Stone (1578) – carved with the coats of arms of the Delahide family, who took over monastic land after the Reformation.
After the priory
The priory was dissolved in 1557 and its lands granted to Thomas FitzWilliams in 1578, passing later to the Earls of Thomond and then the Holmpatrick estate. The present Church of Ireland church, a Gothic limestone building consecrated in 1867, replaced the earlier church whose tower still stands; several memorial tablets from the older building, including one to James Hamilton (d. 1800), were moved into it.
Local folklore fills in the rest. The story goes that St Patrick’s goat was stolen from the island, and that the saint leapt to the mainland after it, leaving a footprint on Red Island said to show at low tide, with matching marks out on St Patrick’s Island.
The milling story in Skerries traces back to this ground too. In the early 16th century the land belonged to the priory, and the two windmills that survive – a small one from about 1525 and a great one from about 1750 – along with a watermill, now make up the Skerries Mills heritage centre, a short walk away.
Coastal walk and getting there
The graveyard makes a good start for a walk north along the shore to Ardgillan Castle, an 18th-century house with terraced gardens over the sea; allow about half an hour. The cemetery paths are grass and gravel and a little uneven, so wear decent shoes.
Practical information
- Admission: free, open year-round.
- Parking: a small free car park at the cemetery gate.
- Accessibility: the tower interior is closed to the public; the grounds are grass and gravel, best suited to sure-footed walkers.
- Getting there: by car, the M1 then the R132 and R127 into Skerries, following signs for the town and Holmpatrick. The 33 bus runs from Dublin’s Busáras to Skerries, a short walk from the site.
- Nearby: Skerries harbour for sailing, paddleboarding and birdwatching, and the Skerries Mills heritage centre on the way back into town.
Go in the morning: the low light catches the carving on the 1520 stone, which is otherwise easy to walk straight past.