Swords Castle — Attraction in Fingal

Swords castle is the former home of the Archbishop of Dublin John Comyn it has shared links to St Patricks Cathedral Dublin. it was completed in the around year 1200 however the castle fell out of use in the following centuries. From the mid 19th century to 20th it was owned by the Cobbe family, they had an orchard in the inner courtyard of the castle,some of the apple trees have survived to this day, the oldest tree can be found at the south east corner of the castle, It has very interesting history free to visit and one of the finest examples of a castle from this period. Fingal County Council has completed a recent refurbishment to the chapel on the south east side of the castle, a tower on the northwest corner known as constables tower and works carried out to eastern wall, however the south west side has only had very minor works carried out. There was an archaeological dig at the castle gates during the late 20th century and during that dig there was skeletons with swords along side them indicating perhaps a battle of some sort took place there, in 2018/2019 another dig took place on the east side of the castle were 3-4 skeletons were discovered. Fingal County Council have further plans for the development of the castle and the...

A PLACE OF BEAUTY/Scarred Forever What uncultured thoughtless vandals allowed steel ramparts to be put on this medieval castles walls...to pack in more people for their music concerts that's the why of it

They used to make films here but that's not possible any longer with such ugly metal marring the view.

"For health and safety blah blah" the heritage in charge tells us.... what was wrong with putting in wood or even imitation wood. There is not one single incident in all of this places past history of anyone falling from the WOODEN ramparts

Then to add insult to injury the Council advertised their library with a blow up of the castle with it's original wooden ones

Then there's a plaque that commemorates the reopening of the expertly refurbished Constables Tower ...by some long forgotten councillor...it wasn't his money that fixed it up so how come he has the cheek to let a plaque to himself be placed there instead of one to acknowledge the guy who built it in the first place...seeking after fame obviously

All that said the chapel is very expertly restored and a must see and it's a very peaceful place...

All praise to Fingal County Council on a magnificent restoration of Swords Castle. The Council has retained it as a community space and yet the restoration is of a very high quality. What an amazing piece of medieval Ireland in the heart of a sprawling urban town. This is a must see. In 1181 Archbishop John Comyn chose Swords as his chief residence. The castle was then built around 1200 or a little later as the manorial residence of the Archbishop. The Castle consists of a beautifully restored Chapel, impressive Gate House and Towers, a Constaple Tower also restored. A fully restored perimeter pentagonal wall with a lenght of 305m enclosing 1.5 acres is far larger than normal for an...