Once an amusement arcade!

Skerries is a beautiful coastal town with 2 Martello towers on its coastline, one on Red Island near the harbor and the 2nd is on Shenick Island. There were approximately 50 of these towers built along the Irish coastline by the British in the early 1800s. At this strategic location, you can see all the way to the Mourne Mountains in the north and all the way down to Lambay Island in the south.  The name ‘Martello’ is thought to be a corruption of Mortella, a place in Corsica where a fortified tower was used to resist British forces during 1793. The British were so impressed with its design that they copied it and used the same design all over the Commonwealth. Over time these towers have passed into private ownership or have been converted for other uses. This tower was used as a ballroom in the 1920s and later became Toft’s Amusements in the 1940s. This tower is unfortunately closed at the present time.