From A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837
SKERRIES, a sea-port and fishing town, in the parish of HOLMPATRICK, barony of BALROTHERY, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER, 3 ¼ miles (S. E.) from Balbriggan; containing 2556 inhabitants. The town is situated on the eastern coast, and was the place at which Sir Henry Sydney landed, in 1575, when sent by Queen Elizabeth as Lord-Deputy of Ireland: it contains 528 houses, chiefly inhabited by persons employed in the fishery; and in the neighbourhood are several handsome villas. Previously to the withdrawing of the fishery bounties, the trade of this place was very considerable; at present only 46 boats of 40 tons, and carrying 7 men each, are employed in the fishery. Off the coast are the islands called the Skerries, within which is a broad beach of sand, dry at low water, extending from Shenex island, the most southern, to Red island, the most northern, and connected with the mainland by a causeway which, with a small pier on the north side, forms the harbour of Skerries. This harbour is the best on this part of the coast, having a good roadstead which is safe in southerly winds; the channel between Red island and Colt island is only fit for boats; but within St. Patrick's isle are from 3 to 4 fathoms of water.
Tambour-work is carried on to a very considerable extent, affording employment to more than 700 persons. Fairs for cattle and pigs are held on April 28th and Aug. 10th, a constabulary police force is stationed in the town, and it is also a coast-guard station, being one of the nine that constitute the district of Swords. The parish church, a neat edifice, to which an embattled tower crowned with pinnacles was added, in 1819, by Hans Hamilton, Esq., adjoins the town; and there is also a R. C. chapel, erected in 1823, a spacious and handsome edifice. There are circulating libraries in connection with both. The parochial school-house, with apartments for the master and mistress, was erected at the expense of J. H. Hamilton, Esq., and is near the church, and the national schools are situated in the town, in which there is also a dispensary. On the Red island and on that of Shenex are martello towers; and on St. Patrick's isle are some remains of an ancient church.
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From a sad, comfortless childhood Giles Truelove developed into a reclusive and uncommunicative man whose sole passion was books. For so long they were the only meaning to his existence. But when fate eventually intervened to have the outside world intrude upon his life, he began to discover emotions that he never knew he had.
A touching story for the genuine booklover, written by an Irish bookseller under the pseudonym of Ralph St John Featherstonehaugh.
Annals of the Famine in Ireland
Annals of the Famine in Ireland, by Asenath Nicholson, still has the power to shock and sadden even though the events described are ever-receding further into the past. When you read, for example, of the poor widowed mother who was caught trying to salvage a few potatoes from her landlord's field, and what the magistrate discovered in the pot in her cabin, you cannot help but be appalled and distressed.
The ebook is available for download in .mobi (Kindle), .epub (iBooks, etc.) and .pdf formats. For further information on the book and author see details ».
Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger
This book, the prequel to Annals of the Famine in Ireland cannot be recommended highly enough to those interested in Irish social history. The author, Mrs Asenath Nicholson, travelled from her native America to assess the condition of the poor in Ireland during the mid 1840s. Refusing the luxury of hotels and first class travel, she stayed at a variety of lodging-houses, and even in the crude cabins of the very poorest. Not to be missed!
The ebook is available for download in .mobi (Kindle), .epub (iBooks, etc.) and .pdf formats. For further information on the book and author see details ».
Henry Ford Jones' book, first published in 1915 by Princeton University, is a classic in its field. It covers the history of the Scotch-Irish from the first settlement in Ulster to the American Revolutionary period and the foundation of the country.
The ebook is available for download in .mobi (Kindle), .epub (iBooks, etc.) and .pdf formats. For further information on the book and author see details ».
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