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St. Patrick's Church The present Catholic Church
was consecrated in 1939 and dedicated to St. Patrick,
the patron saint of Skerries and Ireland. It replaced
an earlier one built on the Church Street side
of the same site in 1832. A belfry, which had
been added to the original church in 1834, was
retained.
The Matthews family built this belfry from local
Milverton limestone, and it acts as a bell tower
for the Present Church. The West End of the Church
and the belfry face onto Church Street. The building
of the Church was started in 1935. Twenty-foot
piles had to be driven into the sandy soil to
give the Church a firm foundation. To adorn the
front of the Church a carving of the St. Patrick's
was commissioned from Albert Power. He was a member
of a local family and one of the foremost sculptors
in Ireland at that time. In the original carving
St. Patrick's stood on a goat, but Skerries people
objected to it, as it was a painful reminder that
St. Patrick's goat had been eaten by Skerries
people. In the final carving St. Patrick stands
on a Celtic scroll. However a plaque with a goat's
head has been added to the front of the Church
in recent years. In the grounds of the Church
is an old stone, inscribed Skerries National Scho(ol)
1834. This stone is possibly connected with the
building that stands beside it, which was once
a primary school.
In fact it housed Skerries first National Schools
- a girls' school upstairs and boys downstairs.
The Carnegie Library Beside St.Patrick's Church
stands the Carnegie Library. It was built in 1910
and is the most ornate building, in Skerries.
Originally it was to have been a plain building,
but its builder James Duff, who was a local man,
thought that it should have a façade worthy of
the street. With this in mind he designed the
present building and used limestone from Milverton
to construct it. Andrew Carnegie was born to a
poor family in Scotland in 1835. When he was 13
he emigrated to America with his parents. The
following year he began work as a telegraph boy
in Pittsburgh. Afterwards he worked for the railway.
He introduced sleeping cars to the trains and
made a lot of money from this idea. He made more
money by investing in the growing oil industry.
Next he concerned himself with the development
of the Pittsburgh iron and steel industries and
he built a vast business empire. In 1901 he sold
his business and he returned to live in Scotland.
For the rest of his life he devoted his vast wealth
to good works, notably the provision and equipping
of libraries. He died in 1919.
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