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Shenick is the largest of the islands and can
be approached on foot at low tide. It gets its
name from the Irish ''sionnach,'' meaning a fox.
Standing at one end of the island is a Martello
tower. In 1878, a ''war'' began between the farmers
of Rush and the landlord of Skerries, Ian Hamilton.
The farmers had long gathered seaweed, which grew
plentifully around Shenick Island and was known
locally as ''woar,'' to use as a fertiliser for
their crops. Hamilton was trying to impose a payment
for each load of seaweed. To enforce this he built
a wall to prevent the farmers reaching the shore
and blocked their route out to the island.
The Rush men retaliated by breaking down the
wall. This began a legal battle, which lasted
until 1896, and it was fought with great bitterness
both in the courts and on the ground. Hamilton
claimed ownership of the shore and the islands
because letters patent, [documents from the government
giving ownership], were granted to the Earl of
Thomond, from whom the Hamilton family had bought
lands of Skerries in 1721.
The Rush men claimed that the shore was owned
by the monarch on behalf of the people.The case
dragged on for nearly twenty years and Hamilton
eventually won it in 1896. From that date the
farmers had to pay one shilling, 6cp in today's
money, for each load of seaweed. This payment
lasted until 1946, when the seaweed war, was almost
a forgotten memory .The following poem was written
at the time about an incident during the seaweed
war, when the wall blocking access to the beach
was broken.
In 1917 the island was purchased by Lawrence
McDonagh and was farmed by his family up until
the 1950s. Since 1987 it is a wildlife reserve
run by the Fingal branch of the Irish Wildbird
Conservancy Council.
Back to: History of Skerries
Index Page.
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