Mention Skerries to any Dubliner over the age of 21 and day trips to the seaside and the Red Island holiday camp come to mind. These days it is a commuter town, with a population of approximately 10,000 which is due to increase by 20 per cent when the Kelly's Bay development on the northern fringes of the town is completed.
There is not a trace now of the holiday camp on the harbour promontory - in its place is a neat grassy area with swings for the children maintained by Fingal County Council. From here you can see the sailing boats in the harbour, the two fine beaches of North and South Strand and - if you're lucky - the grey seals which swim between the shore and Rockabill, Colt and St Patrick's islands. The Tidy Towns people have painted windows on the green walls of the old tin Pongo Hall by the harbour.
Unlike other satellite towns, Skerries is miraculously unspoiled by its new suburban status. The modern estates built since the 1970s are tucked discreetly behind the two long streets and the network of small lanes which form the town centre. All around the harbour area are pretty period terraced houses and cottages, a few still topped with traditional thatch.
The location of a mainline rail station in the town is a huge advantage - commuters can travel the 18 miles to the city in about 30 minutes. Skerries is blessed by its position on a curve of the coastline, enclosed to the east by the railway line and almost completely surrounded by sea.
A long tradition of community involvement is evident in the colourful planting around the town and its wide selection of sports clubs and activities. The big community centre on Thomas Hand Street caters for school outings from neighbouring counties.
Plans for a "super-dump" on the Lusk Road are causing concern in the town. The proposed site at Loughbarn is one of the highest points in the area and, according to Declan O'Sullivan, chairperson of Skerries Development and Community Association, a dump here would have a serious affect on tourism in the town. Loughbarn is one of five marked out by the County Council as possible venues and the decision will be made known in October.
Skerries has won several tidy towns awards and was overall Gold Award winner of the hotly-contested Entente Florale in 1996. The 9 women who run the Tidy Towns Committee are the driving force behind the almost pristine neatness of the town. The fact that Michael Lynch, senior parks superintendent for Fingal, is a Skerries resident has been a distinct advantage.
The recently-restored Skerries Mills complex which dominates the town was Michael Lynch's project. Said to be more impressive than the better-known Blennerville windmill in Co. Kerry, the two fully-operating windmills and water mill are on the site of a monastery founded in 1120 AD. Traditionally-grown barley and oats ripening in adjoining fields will be harvested by horse-drawn machinery during a village festival on the 30th July. The mill complex is open every day for guided tours.
With a harbour area to rival Howth and seafood restaurants with quaint names such as the popular lunchtime venue Stoop Your Head, newcomers to Skerries are buying into a very attractive lifestyle. There is a good mix of old fishing cottages, Victorian merchants' houses and modern estates. Period houses of any shape are snapped up as soon as they come on the market and those on the seafront are like gold dust.
The old cottages backing on to the sea on Quay Street fetch £200,000 in poor condition and up to £400,000 completely refurbished, on the rare occasion that one comes on the market. Kelly & Co has a seafront house coming up for auction in late August with a probable guide of £250,000 plus.
The same agent is selling a two-bedroom terraced cottage with a walled back garden on Church Street, three minutes from the beach, in the region of £150,000. Douglas Newman Good has a three-bed mid-terrace on Hoar Rock asking in excess of £180,000. You couldn't buy closer to the sea than Sunset Crag, a detached three-bedroom house right on the rocky shoreline, coming on the market soon with Kelly & Co with a guide of £350,000-plus.
The Skerries Rock scheme on Balbriggan Road is maturing well and re-sales are beginning to come on the market. Grimes has just sold a two-bedroom end of terrace on The Rise at Skerries Rock for £140,000.
Also on Balbriggan Road, Grimes has a four-bedroom detached house in the new Harrison's Bay development for £190,000. Kelly's Bay is the largest housing scheme so far in Skerries, with up to 600 houses divided among a number of different developers. Local agent Grimes and Hamilton Osborne King are handling the bulk of sales. This week Grimes is launching a new phase of four-bedroom semi-detached houses priced from £170,000 and Hamilton Osborne King has 20 three and four-bed semis for sale from £172,000.
Modern housing estates built a number of years ago offer better value, although without the en suites and downstairs lavatories of newer schemes. A three-bed semi on Miller's Lane off Dublin Road for sale with Grimes seems a good buy at excess £135,000. A three-bedroom detached house on Seacrest is expecting offers over £165,000, also with Grimes. Sherry FitzGerald has a three-bed semi on Townparks on the market, asking £140,000.
Kelly & Co is selling a three-bedroom semi on Churchfield Lawns close to the sea in the region of £169,750 and one on Newtownparks asking around £160,000. A four-bed detached Newtownparks house with the same agency is priced at £175,000-plus and Douglas Newman Good has another on this road for in excess of £200,000. Douglas Newman Good also has a two-bedroom detached house on Sherlock terrace for £210,000-plus and a semidetached bungalow with two bedrooms on Convent Lane in the region of £130,000.
Former council houses are good buys in Skerries, since most of these estates are well-settled and nicely kept. When they come up on Mourne Park, Hillside Close and Drive and St Patrick's Close, they fetch £140,000-plus for a three-bedroom semi with a garage and good garden.
There are a few small and medium-sized apartment schemes, some with sea views. Grimes is selling two and three-bedroom penthouses at The Tides on South Strand priced from £279,000 to £295,000.
With its long sandy beaches, strong community involvement and good rail and road network to the city, Skerries deserves its reputation as one of the most attractive commuter towns in north County Dublin.
