Swords
Brian Boru’s funeral procession rested at Swords in 1014, carrying the High King’s body north from Clontarf for burial at Armagh. That is the kind of history hiding in a town most travellers only ever see from the airport bus. Swords is the county town of Fingal, ten kilometres north of Dublin city and a ten-minute drive from Dublin Airport, with a population over 40,000 and the shopping, parks and traffic to match.
The name goes back further still. Sord means clear or pure, a reference to the spring at St Colmcille’s Well on Well Road, which still runs a few minutes’ walk from the shopping centres. If you have only an hour here, spend it on the castle and the round tower; both are free, both are a short walk apart, and together they cover a thousand years.
A thousand years of history
The story starts around 560 AD, when St Colmcille is said to have blessed the local spring and a monastic community grew up around it. What remains from that era is a 26-metre round tower dating to the 9th century – one of the most complete early Christian monuments in the area, and easy to miss among the later buildings.
By the 12th century the town had passed from monks to archbishops. Archbishop John Comyn built Swords Castle around 1200, not as a fortress but as a fortified manor with a private chapel, a gatehouse and a constable’s tower. It slid into disrepair over the following centuries, was turned into a private garden in the 1800s, and eventually came into state care. A long restoration through the late 20th and early 21st centuries brought it back to visitable condition; its walls stood in for Tudor England when the TV series The Tudors filmed here in 2010.
The castle and cultural quarter
You enter through the gatehouse on Main Street, where a recent excavation turned up medieval burials beneath the stonework – proof the site still has secrets to give up. The chapel was rebuilt in 1995 with new roof tiles copied from surviving medieval fragments, and its stained glass and carved timber beams are the best single thing to see. The adjoining Constable’s Tower carries the defensive upgrades added in the 15th century, and the pentagonal footprint of the original complex is still legible in the curtain walls.
One caveat: there are no toilets or café at the castle itself, and the interior rooms have steps. Free Wi-Fi covers the grounds, admission is free year-round, and the courtyard is set up for relaxed, self-guided wandering.
Parks and the estuary
Swords is built around water and green corridors. The Ward River Valley Park – known locally as “the Jacko” – runs 89 hectares along the river from the town centre to Knocksedan Bridge, mixing medieval fortification remnants with wetland and grassland. The paths are paved, flat and traffic-free, which makes it a reliable choice with children, bikes or a dog.
A short walk north brings you to the Broadmeadow Estuary, a tidal lagoon that draws flocks of swans through winter, roughly December to January, and rewards anyone who turns up early with a camera. For something more active, Balheary Park near the river confluence has a skate park, GAA pitches and open lawns.
Practical information
The castle
- Open Tuesday to Sunday, 09:30 to 17:00 (to 16:30 October to February), last entry 30 minutes before closing. Closed Mondays and bank holidays.
- No café or toilets on site; free Wi-Fi throughout.
- Dogs welcome on a lead in the courtyard and surrounding parks.
Getting around
- By air: Dublin Airport is a ten-minute drive south, with frequent buses linking the terminals to Main Street.
- By road: the M1 runs along the eastern edge of town; leave at Junction 3 or 4. The R132 dual carriageway bypasses the centre and links to the airport and Balbriggan.
- By bus: Dublin Bus routes 41 and 41c run direct from the city centre, and the Swords Express uses the Port Tunnel for a faster run, both roughly 20 to 30 minutes.
- By rail: there is no station in Swords. The nearest commuter and DART stops are at Malahide and Donabate, each about a ten-minute drive.
- Parking: on-street bays on Main Street are pay-and-display on weekdays (around €1 an hour, 9am to 6pm). The Pavilions Shopping Centre has over 2,000 spaces with the first two hours free, a ten-minute walk from the castle.
Shopping and food The Pavilions is the main draw, with more than 90 shops, restaurants and an 11-screen cinema; Swords Central and the Plaza add more. For a visit, come mid-morning on a weekday: parking is easiest, and you get the castle courtyard before the afternoon fills up.