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THE STORY

The history of Swords

A monastery, a round tower, an archbishop’s castle, a market street and, within one lifetime, a town of 40,000. What is established, what is probable, and what we still need to find out.

Illustrative image, not a verified photograph

Swords has more history than most towns its size, and much of it is told in tourism leaflets and local lore that repeat each other. This page follows the sources we could open, says whose claim each date is, and marks how sure we are. Last checked 20 October 2026.

EstablishedSwords Castle was built around 1200 as the archbishops of Dublin’s manor house, and is a National Monument. The borough sent two MPs to Parliament until 1801. The 2022 census counted 40,776 people.

ProbableA monastery stood here long before, tied by tradition to Saint Colmcille about 560. The round tower is dated to the 9th century. These come from tourism and reference pages that repeat a tradition, not from a dated record we have seen.

Still to establishThe first written record of the place, the raids and fires attributed to it, what Main Street looked like before the 19th century, and the pubs and shebeens that shaped its social life.

The name

ProbableThe Irish name is Sord, usually given as “clear” or “pure”, from a legend that Saint Colmcille blessed a well. Wikipedia cites the Dictionary of the Irish Language for the meaning. A local history adds that it may simply mean a large shared well. Both readings point to water, and neither is a dated record of the name.

Still to establishThe earliest written form of the name. We have not yet looked the place up in the Placenames Database of Ireland, which is where the dated spellings are kept. That is the next thing to do.

The monastery and the round tower

ProbableTradition says Saint Colmcille founded a monastery at Swords about the year 560. Visit Dublin dates the round tower to the 9th century and the square belfry beside it to the 14th. Those two are what is left of the medieval church. The Church of Ireland rebuilt St Columba’s on the site in 1811, in Gothic revival style, to a design by Francis Johnson. The tower and belfry are not open to the public because they need repairs.

ProbableAfter the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, Brian Boru is said to have had a requiem mass at the church on Spittal Hill, and a local history page says his funeral procession stopped overnight at the monastery on its way to Armagh. Neither says where it comes from.

The castle

EstablishedSwords Castle was founded around 1200 by John Comyn, Archbishop of Dublin, as a residence and the administrative centre of a rich manor. Fingal County Council’s conservation plan describes it as the best surviving upstanding example of a medieval bishop’s palace in Ireland, and it is a National Monument. It is a manor house, not a serious fortress.

ProbableFingal’s reports, as summarised, say the castle declined from the 1500s and was an orchard owned by the Cobbe family by 1830. Reconstruction began in 1995, and the Constable’s Tower was restored between 1996 and 1998. Excavation in 2014 found burials beneath the gatehouse that are older than the castle, dated differently in different accounts to between the 10th and 12th centuries. That points to an earlier ecclesiastical site, which fits the monastery tradition but does not prove it.

The castle is now part of the Cultural Quarter. See the plans page for what is being built around it. Conservation plan · Digging History

Still to establishWe have read summaries of Fingal’s castle reports, not the reports in full. Treat the castle dates as approximate until we do.

Main Street and the town

ProbableThe Historical Society’s own site dates the buildings of the old town: the Old Borough School on Main Street (1809), St Colmcille’s Catholic church (1827), the courthouse on North Street (1845), the Victorian dispensary (1898) and the Carnegie Library (1909). It records disturbances in 1913, including a riot at a pub on Main Street, and Swords people in the Rising of 1916, including at Ashbourne. The Star pub is named as a place where members of the Taylor and Moran families were involved in the events of 1916. The school is now a pub and the dispensary a betting shop.

Still to establishThe pubs, shebeens and inns of Main Street. We searched and found nothing we could cite beyond the society’s passing mentions and some promotional text we would not rely on. The society’s Swords Voices oral-history project, running since 1992, is the likeliest source. If you remember a pub, a shebeen or a shopfront that has gone, tell us.

For living history, the Swords Historical Society runs a museum and genealogy service in the Carnegie Library on North Street, and see Community for its opening hours.

From market town to county town

ProbableThe 1841 census gave Swords 1,788 people. Rapid growth began in the 1970s with River Valley: 4,133 people in 1971, 11,138 in 1981 and 17,705 in 1991, in Wikipedia’s census table, which does not source each row. Swords became the county town of Fingal in 1994, County Hall opened in 2001, and Swords Pavilions opened on 15 May 2001. The 2022 census counted 40,776.

The clubs and centres followed the housing: see the Sport and Community pages. For the fields that became Fosterstown, and the other estates on that side of town, see the history of Fosterstown and its place guides.

Still to establishCheck each census figure against the CSO before relying on it.

Where the sources disagree

  • How tall is the round tower? Visit Dublin says 73 feet (about 22 metres). Wikipedia says 26 metres. We have not measured it, and neither source says how it was measured.
  • When did Colmcille live? Sources we saw give his dates as 521 to 597 and as 521 to 567. The founding date of about 560 is tradition, whichever is right.
  • Why did the archbishops leave the castle? One source ties the move to a new palace at Tallaght to damage in Bruce’s campaign of 1317. Another says there is no evidence the castle was damaged. The castle is recorded as ruinous in 1326.
  • When did John Comyn become archbishop? 1180 in one source and 1181 in another, and one notes he did not arrive in Ireland until some years later.

Timeline

  1. c.560ProbableA settlement is said to be founded by Saint Colmcille, who blessed a well. According to Wikipedia and the Historical Society, repeating tradition
  2. 9th centuryProbableThe round tower is dated to this century. According to Visit Dublin
  3. 1014ProbableAfter the Battle of Clontarf, Brian Boru is said to have had a requiem mass in the church on Spittal Hill, and a local history says his funeral procession stopped overnight at the monastery. According to Wikipedia and a local history page, neither citing a source
  4. c.1200EstablishedSwords Castle is built for John Comyn, Archbishop of Dublin, as a residence and administrative centre for a wealthy manor. According to Fingal County Council and the Historical Society
  5. 14th centuryProbableThe square belfry is added beside the tower. The castle's great hall is described in an inquisition of 1326. According to Visit Dublin and the Fingal castle summaries
  6. 1403ProbableThe Taylor family build a mansion on the site of today's Fingal County Hall. According to the Historical Society
  7. 1500sProbableThe castle falls into decline. By 1830 its interior is an orchard owned by the Cobbe family. According to Fingal County Council, as summarised
  8. 1801EstablishedThe parliamentary borough of Swords, which returned two MPs, is disenfranchised by the Acts of Union. According to Wikipedia, citing the History of the Irish Parliament
  9. 1809ProbableThe Old Borough School opens on Main Street. It is now a pub. According to the Historical Society
  10. 1811ProbableThe Church of Ireland rebuilds St Columba's beside the tower, in Gothic revival style, to a design by Francis Johnson. According to Visit Dublin
  11. 1827ProbableSt Colmcille's Catholic church is built on land given by James Taylor. According to the Historical Society
  12. 1841ProbableThe census records 1,788 inhabitants. According to Wikipedia, citing the National Cyclopaedia (1848)
  13. 1845ProbableThe courthouse on North Street is built. According to the Historical Society
  14. 1898ProbableThe Victorian dispensary on Main Street is completed. It is now a betting shop. According to the Historical Society
  15. 1909ProbableThe Carnegie Library on North Street is built. It now houses the museum and the genealogy service. According to the Historical Society
  16. 1913ProbableThe Lockout brings disturbances to Swords, including a riot at a pub on Main Street. According to the Historical Society
  17. 1916ProbableMany Swords men and women take part in the Rising, including at the Battle of Ashbourne. According to the Historical Society
  18. 1971ProbableRiver Valley begins to be built. The population is given as 4,133 that year, 11,138 in 1981 and 17,705 in 1991. According to Wikipedia's census table, with no source on each row
  19. 1982ProbableSwords Historical Society is founded. It opens the museum in 1987 and starts the Swords Voices oral history in 1992. According to the society
  20. 1994ProbableSwords becomes the county town of the new county of Fingal. County Hall is completed in 2001. According to Wikipedia, no source given
  21. 1995-98ProbableParts of the castle are reconstructed, and the Constable's Tower is restored between 1996 and 1998. According to Fingal County Council, as summarised
  22. 2001ProbableSwords Pavilions opens on 15 May. According to Wikipedia
  23. 2014ProbableExcavation during stabilisation works at the castle finds burials beneath the gatehouse, earlier than the castle. Their date is given as the 10th to the 12th century in different accounts. According to Fingal County Council, as summarised
  24. 2022EstablishedThe census records 40,776 people in Swords. According to Wikipedia, citing the CSO

Add what you know

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Names, dates, places, links, old photos you hold, anything. Tell us how sure you are.

Sources

Most dates come from secondary pages. We have not seen the primary records (the annals, the archbishops’ registers, the Civil Survey), and we say so where it matters. No photographs are used here because we have not cleared the rights to any.