Swords Castle

Swords Castle is located in Swords (Irish: Sord or Sord Cholmcille) and is open to the public. This is the county town of Fingal in north Dublin and Swords Castle is about two miles from Dublin Airport. The castle was built over a period of four hundred years starting at about 1200AD and has a perimeter wall of about 260 metres. It was once the fortified residence of the Archbishop of Dublin. As stated in the Swords Castle website:

"The extensive complex of buildings is in the form of a rough pentagon of 0.5 hectares and is enclosed by a perimeter wall of 260 meters. It is a National Monument, and it is the best surviving example of an Archbishop’s Palace in Ireland. The curtain walls enclose over an acre of land that slopes down to the Ward River. This complex of buildings is made up of many phases of reuse and redesign reflecting its long history and changing fortunes."

More details of the history of the castle and  opening times can be seen on the link to Swords Castle website below. The castle is located in the centre of the town of Swords/Sord Cholm Cille off the M1 south of Balbriggan and about 15 KM north of Dublin City from which there are good bus links to the town.

Link: Swords Castle

Image: Swords Castle, 1792. Antiquities of Ireland by Francis Grose (1731 – 1791)