Skreen, An Scrín, Co. Sligo

An Scrín · Co. Sligo

The shrine - a scatter of houses on the N59 named for a relic of St Adomnán, with the birthplace of a knighted physicist across the road and a thatched pub down at the strand.

Skreen - An Scrín - is a small parish village in west Sligo on the N59, about twenty kilometres west of Sligo town in the barony of Tyreragh. The name is literal: it means the shrine, after a reliquary said to belong to St Adomnán, the 7th-century abbot of Iona who wrote the Life of St Columba and is held to have been the first abbot of the monastery here. The shrine and the abbey are long gone. The name stayed.

There is no village in the usual sense - no pub strip, no shop run, no main street. What is here is a parish church, an older ruined church beside it, a graveyard worth half an hour, and a scatter of houses around the road. The present Church of Ireland was built in 1818 on the old monastic ground; the ruined medieval church on the same site dates from around 1550. The Vikings raided and razed the original abbey in the 9th century, and of it there is now no trace.

Two things lift Skreen above the average roadside parish. The first is the man born in the rectory across from the church: Sir George Gabriel Stokes, one of the great mathematical physicists of the 19th century, whose name is still stamped on theorems and equations that every engineering student learns. The second is what lies a couple of minutes north: the right turn in the village runs down to Dunmoran Strand and on to Aughris Head, where the 17th-century thatched Beach Bar sits on the shore looking across at Knocknarea and Benbulben. That is the real reason to slow down here.

Population

Parish of around 1,000; the village itself is a handful of houses

Walk score

A church, a graveyard, and a few houses on the N59

Founded

7th-century monastic shrine; present Church of Ireland 1818

Coords

54.2433° N, 8.7311° W

01 / 08

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The name

An Scrín, the shrine of Adomnán.

Skreen means the shrine. It is named for a reliquary of St Adomnán, the 7th-century abbot of Iona who wrote the Life of St Columba. He is said to have served as the first abbot here. The shrine and the abbey are gone; the name carried.

Stories & lore → 02 The son

Birthplace of Sir George Gabriel Stokes.

The mathematician and physicist Sir George Gabriel Stokes (1819-1903) - Stokes's theorem, the Navier-Stokes equations, the founder of fluorescence - was born in the rectory across the road from the church. His father Gabriel was the parson here.

Stories & lore → 03 The location

On the N59 between Sligo and Dromore West.

Skreen is twenty minutes west of Sligo on the N59. Drive past it without trying and you have driven past it. The reasons to stop are the old graveyard, and the right turn down to Dunmoran Strand and the Beach Bar at Aughris.

Next stops →

02 / 08

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

The Beach Bar at Aughris

17th-century seafront pub on the strand

Thatched pub, restaurant & B&B, Aughris Head (a few minutes off the N59)

Not in Skreen village itself - it sits out at Aughris Head, reached by the signposted turn at the village down toward Dunmoran. A picturesque 17th-century thatched pub on the seafront, with a restaurant leaning on local seafood and pub classics, and B&B rooms. Live music on Saturdays and bank-holiday Sundays. Views across to Knocknarea and Benbulben. This is the pub people actually come here for; the village has none.

03 / 08

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
The Beach Bar at Aughris	B&B above a thatched seafront pub, Aughris Head	The handiest bed in the parish - rooms over the Beach Bar out at Aughris, on the shore a few minutes off the N59 below Skreen. Wake up to the Atlantic and walk to breakfast. Book ahead in summer and around bank holidays when the music is on.

04 / 08

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Razed by Vikings in the 9th century

The shrine of Adomnán

St Adomnán - the first biographer of St Columba and one of his successors as abbot of Iona - is said to have served as the first abbot of the monastery at Skreen, and the place took its name, An Scrín, from a shrine holding his relics. Adomnán is remembered beyond this parish for the Cáin Adomnáin, the Law of the Innocents, an early effort to spare women, children and non-combatants in war. The abbey stood where the Church of Ireland church now stands. Viking raiders pillaged and razed it in the 9th century, and no trace of it survives above ground. A holy well dedicated to the saint, Toberawnaun, lies in the townland.

Born across the road, 1819

Sir George Gabriel Stokes

Sir George Gabriel Stokes (1819-1903) was born in the rectory across the road from Skreen church, where his father Gabriel Stokes was the Church of Ireland parson. He became Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge - the chair later held by Hawking - and his name survives in Stokes's theorem, the Navier-Stokes equations of fluid motion, and the discovery and naming of fluorescence. His elder brother John Whitley Stokes became Archdeacon of Armagh. Their father is buried inside the ruined medieval church beside the present one.

Stonemasons of Ardnaglass, 1774-1886

The Diamond box tombs

The graveyard around the old church holds a remarkable set of carved limestone box tombs, the work of the Diamonds, a family of master stonemasons who worked nearby at Ardnaglass between 1774 and 1886. The most celebrated is the 1824 Alexander Black tomb, cut by Old Frank Diamond, carved with a ploughman in top hat and tails behind a two-horse plough. Several tombs carry skull-and-crossbones motifs. The Diamond line is said to have kept up the stonecutting trade for seven generations.

05 / 08

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

The old church and graveyard Park at the parish church. The ruined c. 1550 building and the older graves share the one enclosure. Find the Diamond box tombs and the 1824 Alexander Black ploughman tomb. Reverend Gabriel Stokes, father of the physicist, is buried within the ruin.

On sitedistance

30 mintime

Dunmoran Strand to Aughris Head Take the signposted right turn in Skreen off the N59 down to Dunmoran Strand, a sheltered north-facing beach below high dunes. The coastal walk runs from the strand around to Aughris Head and the Beach Bar. Easy, tranquil, big Atlantic views toward Knocknarea and Benbulben. The best hour the parish offers.

About 4 kmdistance

1.5 hourstime

Ladies Brae Not a walk so much as a scenic drive south of the village, climbing through the Ox Mountains. Worth the detour if the weather is clear and you have the car.

Drivedistance

Allow 30 mintime

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The coast turns green, the Dunmoran and Aughris walk is at its best, and west Sligo is quiet. Light over Knocknarea is good in April.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings, music at the Beach Bar on Saturdays and bank holidays, the strand at its warmest. The N59 carries holiday traffic toward Enniscrone; the village stays quiet.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Clear, sharp days are perfect for the headland walk. The graveyard rewards a slow visit out of season with nobody else there.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and Atlantic weather off the strand can be raw. The church and graveyard keep their interest; check the Beach Bar's opening before driving out for it.

◐ Mind yourself

07 / 08

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Looking for a town

Skreen is a parish, not a village in the shop-and-pub sense. There is no main street, no shop run, no pub in the village. If you want services, that is Dromore West to the west or Sligo to the east. Come for the church, the graveyard and the strand.

The N59 fly-by

Most people pass Skreen at 80 km/h on the N59 and never see it. The half-hour reasons - the old graveyard, the Stokes connection, the turn down to Dunmoran - are all within a couple of minutes of the road. Pull in once.

Expecting the Beach Bar in the village

It is not in Skreen. It is out at Aughris Head, a few minutes north on the signposted coast road. Worth every minute of the detour, but do not stand at the crossroads wondering where it went.

Getting there.

By car

Sligo to Skreen is about 20 minutes west on the N59. Dromore West is 15 minutes further west; Aughris and Dunmoran are a few minutes north off the signposted turn in the village.

By bus

Bus Éireann route 446 (Sligo to Ballina via Enniscrone) runs along the N59 and passes the village.

By train

No station. Sligo MacDiarmada is about 20 minutes east, on the line to Dublin Connolly.

By air

Ireland West Airport Knock (NOC) is about 1 hour. Dublin is around 3 hours by road.