Swords Demesne

Area

6 m²

Buildings

No building touches it.

Zoning

M4 MC - Major Town Centre (The Fingal Development Plan 2023 – 2029) The objective

Townland

Swords Demesne

Planning applications on this parcel

No planning application touches this parcel in the national file, which goes back to 2010.

Source: National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Applicants are not shown.

Designated sites

No designated site (Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area, Natural Heritage Area or proposed one) touches this parcel.

Recorded monuments around it

This parcel is in the zone of notification of 19 recorded monuments.

• DU011-034001 Castle - Anglo-Norman masonry castle
  Description

  Situated on rising ground at the NE end of Swords Village. Built c. 1200 as the manorial residence of the Archbishop of Dublin (Anon 1914, 260-261). The curtain wall forms an irregular polygon in plan enclosing an area of one and one third acres. The entrance is in the S through a barrel-vaulted archway, which provides access to a range of buildings in the E and W. To the E is the chapel with a residential tower that rises to three storeys with a vaulted ground floor. There is a double-light, trefoil-headed window with transom in the S wall of the 2nd floor of the tower. The chapel is entered from the E wall of the tower and through round-headed doorways in the N wall of the chapel. Fourteenth century tiles were found during excavations of the chapel in the 1970's (Fanning 1975, 47-82). In the SE angle of the curtain wall are traces of a two-storey building with four plain windows and a fireplace in the E wall. This is thought to have been an oratory. A medieval tile pavement came to light in this building during excavations (Fanning 1975, 61ff). Along the E section of curtain wall is a three storey tower immediately S of a building referred to as the 'Great hall' (Anon 1914, 260-261). It has a vaulted ground floor and a stairwell in the NE angle. The first floor is lit by a large window with red sandstone moulding and tracery. There is a domestic range W of the entrance to the castle. The curtain wall is battlemented with parapet walks defended by towers in the E, N and SW sections. The impressive N tower is three storeys high with a stairwell in the SW angle. Sandstone has been used in the windows. The SW tower projects beyond the line of the curtain wall. At the SW angle is a turret on a stepped squinch arch and corbels. The buildings to the W of the entrance are made up of three compartments, all barrel-vaulted at ground floor level. The first floor of one of them carries over the gateway. This has a pointed arched window on the S side formed with Dundry stone and red sandstone. Archaeological monitoring along the southern boundary of the castle in 1993 revealed a large rock cut ditch c. 2.2m out from the base of the wall. This is thought to be the line of the outer castle moat (Swan 1994, 33). Further test-excavation along the same boundary to the east revealed a minimum depth of 2m of medieval deposits (Licence no. 02E1279). Internally the removal of overburden immediately north of the Knights and Squire’s chamber (Licence no.01E002) and monitoring of service insertions (1996-97) in front of Constable’s tower revealed the presence of archaeological activity such as wall footings, surfaces and drains, which are preserved under geotextile. In 2009 monitoring (Consent E004376) of service insertions took place outside the gateway arch uncovering two parallel walls traversing the exterior of the castle. Excavations in 2014 within the gatehouse in advance of proposed stabilisation uncovered burials that appear to predate the construction of the gatehouse. As part of the preparation of the Conservation Plan, geophysical survey (Licence no. 11R038) was undertaken within the castle walls identifying possible building foundations. Swords Castle has undergone a series of restoration initiatives based on designs by David Newman Johnson since the mid-1990s. The chapel has recently reopened. Swords castle Conservation Plan was published in 2014. http://www.fingal.ie/media/Swords%20Castle%20Conservation%20Plan_final.pdf Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Date of upload: 09 January 2015

• DU011-034002 Ecclesiastical enclosure
  Description

  The boundary of Swords Glebe together with the curving alignment of the Brackenstown Road, Church Road and Rathbeale indicate the original extent of the early monastic foundation associated with St. Colmcille. On the south side the steep slope down to the Ward river immediately south of the Brackenstown Road forms a natural boundary. Cartographic evidence suggests that the western enclosure was most likely aligned along a former laneway visible on the Ordnance Survey six inch maps, now St Columba's Rise housing estate. Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Date of upload: 08 January 2015

• DU011-034003 Graveyard
  Description

  Located on a natural prominence overlooking the village. A trapezoidal shaped, walled enclosure (L 70m, Wth 50m) on a prominent rise on the west bank of the Ward river. The ground drops off radically in the south. The grave headstones of largely 18th/19th century date are confined to the S of the graveyard. One of the earliest headstones is a 17th century sandstone example erected by Charles McAlister in 1760 (Fingal Historic Graves Project 2008). Within the graveyard is a church (DU011-034004-) and round tower (DU011-034005-). Recently in use. Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Date of upload: 08 January 2015

• DU011-034004 Church
  Description

  Only the residential W tower of the medieval parish church survives. It lies on a height northwest of the C of I church (dated 1818) within the churchyard. A gable scar is present on the south wall. An early medieval cross slab (DU011-034007-) is built into the base of the south wall. The tower rises to four storeys with a belfry stage. The upper floors are offset and the style of the masonry changes at belfry stage. Built of coursed limestone masonry with dressed quoins. The tower is entered through a pointed arched doorway with late dressing in the south wall. The ground floor is square in plan with a corner turret in the SW which contains a stone newel staircase (int. dims 4m E-W, 4.40 N-S, wall Wth 1.40m). There is a barrel vault over the ground floor. Interior is lit by a single ope with chamfered exterior in the N corner of the E wall. The stairway is lit with single slit opes. Upper floors are entered through pointed arched, double centred doorways with late dressing. First floor is lit by a round-headed window under a flat segmental arch in the N wall. There is a flat lintelled fireplace in the S wall of the second floor with two wall presses to the W of it. The corbels which held the third floor are present. The belfry stage is entered through a flat-arched doorway with punch dressing. There are large pointed segmental-arched openings with louvres in the N, S, and E sides. Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Date of upload: 08 January 2015

• DU011-034005 Round tower
  Description

  Associated with the monastic enclosure is a round tower which rises to four storeys and is entered in the east through a lintelled doorway with inclined jambs (dims. H.26m, wall Wth 1.30m, int. diam 2.40m). The interior is lit by plain square-headed opes above the doorway and at same level in the N and S. There is a corbelled roof over the first floor with timber floors on second and third. The upper portion of the tower is a later reconstruction and topped with an undecorated Latin cross (DU011-034006-). Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Date of upload: 08 January 2015

• DU011-034006 Cross
  Description

  A small undecorated Latin cross was erected on the top of the round tower (DU011-034005-) in the late 17th century (Barrow 1979, 86). Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Date of upload: 08 January 2015

• DU011-034007 Cross-slab
  Description

  There is an inscribed Early Christian grave slab fragment built into the base of the residental tower of the church (DU011-034004-) in the SE. It has a lunette-shaped terminal (Swords, K.2009, 103). Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Date of upload: 08 January 2015

• DU011-034009 Graveslab
  Description

  Within the tower there are fragments of a rectangular limestone graveslab (L 1.26m, Wth 0.64m, T 0.06m). On it is an incised 17th century inscription with a later 18th century addition (Bradley and King 1988, iv, 318). Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Date of upload: 26 August 2011

• DU011-034010 Graveslab
  Description

  In the centre aisle of the present Church of Ireland church (1818) is a graveslab commemorating Blakeney & Taylor d. 1587. It is a coffin-shaped limestone slab with a marginal inscription in false relief Gothic lettering (L1.8m, Wth 0.64m; Bradley and King 1988, iv, 318). There is currently no access to the Church as it suffered an area of roof collapse. Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Date of upload: 08 January 2015

• DU011-034011 Graveslab
  Description

  Located in the centre aisle of the present Church of Ireland (1818). This is a rectangular limestone floor slab (L 1.85m, Wth 0.88). It has an incised inscription in a mixture of Roman lettering and script (Bradley and King 1988, iv, 318-319). Currently no access as an area of the church roof has collapsed. Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Date of upload: 08 January 2015

And 9 more.

Architectural heritage

No building of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage stands on this parcel.

Designated sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service. Recorded monuments: Sites and Monuments Record, National Monuments Service. Buildings: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Works at or in relation to a recorded monument need two months' written notice to the National Monuments Service (National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994, section 12).

Ground and risks

Radon

At the centre of this parcel, about 1 in 20 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home

Landslides

The 1:50,000 map gives no landslide susceptibility class here. Parts of the land are made ground.

Terrain model

No LiDAR survey of the Office of Public Works covers the centre of this parcel.

Flooding

The Office of Public Works publishes its flood maps on floodinfo.ie.

Radon Risk Map of Ireland, Environmental Protection Agency, and Landslide Susceptibility Classification, Geological Survey Ireland, both under CC BY 4.0. LiDAR: contains Irish Public Sector Data (Geological Survey Ireland & the Office of Public Works) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.

Download this parcel as DXF, in Irish Transverse Mercator metres, with its neighbours and buildings, for a drawing program. GeoJSON, in WGS 84, suits a map, and KML opens in Google Earth.

Registered freehold land, Tailte Éireann, CC BY 4.0. A parcel is the land of a title, not an address. The owner's name is in the Land Registry of Tailte Éireann: a copy of the folio can be ordered on landdirect.ie, for a fee.