Skyrne Castle, Co Meath

Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.  

“An old towerhouse with a plain three storey three bay gable-ended C18 wing. Battlemented porch.” 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/14326006/skryne-castle-skreen-skreen-co-meath

Detached three-bay three-storey house, built c.1780. Remodelled c.1850, with castellated central porch addition, castellated chimneystack and pointed arch windows. Adjoining late medieval tower house with circular corner turret. Pitched tile roof with castellated chimneystacks. Roughcast rendered walls. Timber battened door set in pointed arch opening. Pointed arched windows to tower house. Stable blocks and outbuildings to east. Walled garden to south. Demesne bounded by rubble limestone walls with snecked limestone entrance and gate piers. 

Appraisal 

Skryne Castle represents the historical continuity that is a characteristic of many demesnes in Ireland. It incorporates an eighteenth-century block, the remains of a late medieval tower house, both of which have some nineteenth-century elements, and is located in close proximity to Adam de Fergo’s motte and castle. It forms part of an interesting group with the related structures in the demesne. 

Record of Protected Structures: 

Skyrne Castle, townland: Skreen, town: Tara-Skyrne. 

Detached three-bay three-storey house, built c.1780. Remodelled c.1850, with castellated central porch addition. Adjoining late medieval tower house with circular corner Turret. 

Houses r-z

Skryne Castle consists of a late medieval tower house to which was added a three storey Georgian about 1780 and the building was re-modelled about 1830 with battlements and Gothic windows being added to make the building more picturesque. The castle is close to the motte castle of Adam de Feypo, who was granted Skryne by High de Lacy in the 12^th century. Mrs Elizabeth Hickey documented the medieval period in her book ‘Skryne and the early Normans.’ At the entrance is a single-storey gate lodge dating from about 1860. The first Ordnance Survey maps show an entrance direct to the front of the house. The current entrance approaches the house from the side. The first OS maps also show the site of a chapel in the field to the front of the house.  

Skryne gets its name from ‘Scrín Cholm Cille’, meaning the shrine of St. Colmcille. This shrine was brought to Skryne in 875 to protect it from the attack by the Vikings. However the shrine was lost when the monastery as plundered by the Danes and rivals Irish clans. Adam de Feypo who was granted the lands here by Hugh de Lacy, founded an Augustinian monastery. The tower of this monastery sits on the summit of the hill. Skryne became a borough with its own mayor or provost.  In the early 1800s fairs were held on March 17th, June 20th, and Oct. 12th, for livestock, the last being a very large fair for sheep. O’Connell’s traditional pub, located near the tower, features in the Guinness White Christmas ad on television.  

The castle at Skryne was lived in by the Wilkinson family. A tune called ‘Planxty Wilkinson’ was composed by Turlough O’Carolan for the Wilkinsons of Tara and Skryne, Co.Meath. 

There is supposed to be a ghost who haunts the castle. In 1740 a local squire turned his attention to Lilith Palmerston, a maid at the castle. When his advances were spurned he tried to strangle her, and was hanged for the crime. Shrieks are heard in the castle and a white figures sometimes appears. 

In 1837 the old castle had been enlarged and modernised, and was occupied by a farmer. In 1856 Skryne castle and estate was the property of Peter Wilkinson who in 1876 held 586 acres in County Meath. In 1901 Alice Wilkinson and her daughter, Alice, were living at Skryne. In 1942 Skryne was the residence of Mrs. A. Wilkinson. The Wilkinson estate was taken over by the Land Commission in 1940. 

In the early 1950s Mrs Elizabeth Hickey and family came to live in Skryne Castle. Mrs Hickey was a well known Meath historian and author. From the re-foundation of the Meath Archaeological and Historical Society in the mid 1950s she took an active role in local history. Probably the most famous of her works was the ‘The Green Cockatrice’ in which she suggested that the works of Shakespeare were actually written by an Irishman, named William Nugent. She died in 1999 aged 81 years.