Swords Castle
| Swords Castle | ||
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 Constable Tower at Swords Castle |
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| Creation time : | 13th Century | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | under restoration | |
| Standing position : | Irish clergy | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Swords | |
| Geographical location | 53 ° 27 '34.2 " N , 6 ° 13' 12.1" W | |
| Height: | 18 m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference | |
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Swords Castle ( Irish Caisleán Shoird ) is a castle in Swords , a northern suburb of the Irish capital Dublin . The residence of the first Anglo-Norman bishop of Dublin , John Comyn , was built after 1200. The castle was never heavily fortified, but has an unusually long enclosure wall with a length of 305 meters. The surrounding wall covers a pentagon of almost 6000 m². In the north there is a tower, probably the residence of the constable , and in the south there is an impressive gatehouse complex . The bishop's living quarters, living quarters for the knights and a banquet hall were located in the castle. The guard could have been to the left of the gatehouse, while the guard room and above it could have been the guard room on the right. The subsequent chapel , which was built in the 13th century, probably served as the bishop's private chapel. Other buildings that were listed for investigation in 1326 have now disappeared, such as B. the knight's hall on the east side of the enclosure.
history
A monastic settlement attributed to Columban of Iona had existed in Swords since the 6th century; in the 12th century it came under the control of the Archbishop of Dublin. John Comyn succeeded Archbishop Lawrence O'Toole in 1181 and it appears that at some point he chose Swords as his main residence, presumably because the benefice of Swords was very rich and well cared for. There is evidence that there was a mansion in Swords in 1192 , and that year it was granted a patent entitling it to hold a week-long market on the feast of St. Columban (June 9th) each year. It is generally assumed that the castle was built around 1200 or a little later as the archbishop's mansion. The Archbishop had his own Seneschal in Swords and a church court was maintained there. In 1216, Henry de Loundres , the second archbishop, received rule of Swords and it is recorded that in 1220 a certain William Galrote was chief constable of the castle.
It appears that the castle was the residence of the Archbishops of Dublin for the next 100 years until Archbishop Alexander Bicknor had a new Archbishop's Palace built in Tallaght in 1324 . Apparently Swords Castle was abandoned at this time. Proof of this can be served by the fact that Bicknor was accused in 1326 of improper use of the property entrusted to him, withholding the income of his bishopric by the king and on March 14, 1326 an investigation was carried out before the sheriff of Dublin. The aim of the investigation was to secure the income of the bishopric and as part of this a detailed description of Swords Castle is preserved. From this it becomes clear that the castle was already in a state of decay. In all likelihood, Swords Castle was abandoned because of the damage it suffered in Edward Bruce's campaign in 1317 . It is known that the entire country south of Dundalk up to the gates of Dublin was devastated. While there is no direct evidence of an attack by Bruce's forces on Swords Castle, it is known that the castle was not fortified enough to withstand such an attack. Presumably, the archbishop had fled to Tallaght for security reasons.
It is doubtful that all of the castle's buildings were ever repaired, but the tiered battlements indicate some form of use in the 15th century; at that time, it seems, the castle was made available to the archbishops emeritus. But there is no documented evidence that anyone ever lived there. Instead, at least part of the castle seems to have been inhabited by a constable in the 14th, 15th and early 16th centuries. It was not until 1547 that Thomas FitzSimons from Swords was appointed constable and subsequently the members of the Barnewall family retained the right to constable and lease the castle. When Swords Castle was briefly occupied by Dutch Protestants in 1583 , it was described as a "very rotten old castle". The Viceroy, Sir Henry Sydney , had some of the buildings repaired for use by the Dutch weavers' colony; he hoped these would "give the lazy, indigenous people an example of activity."
In the rebellion of 1641 , the castle was chosen as a meeting place for Anglo-Irish, Catholic families from the Pale . On December 9th of that year they gathered at the castle under arms to join the rebellion, but were attacked by the troops of Sir Charles Coote on the orders of Lords Justice . Coote chased them away, chased them out of the fortress, and killed hundreds of them. It is possible that some graves found in recent excavations can be traced back to this event.
After that, little is known about the history of the castle, only an Ordnance Survey map from 1837 shows that the grounds or the enclosure of the castle had been converted into a garden. After the Church of Ireland was nationalized in 1870, the castle was sold to the Cobbe family , who leased it to local shopkeeper Robert Savage . Savage planted an orchard in the castle grounds and sold the fruit in his shop. In the 1930s the Office of Public Works became responsible for the property and in 1985 the County Council of Dublin (later County Council of Fingal) bought the castle with the intention of restoring it.
The Fingal County Park Administration conducted a number of studies including: B. a conservation study for the entire site, and in 1985 they agreed on a plan for a long-term restoration of the castle. Work on Constable's Tower began in 1996 and was completed in 1998. The rest of the restoration work is still pending; when completed, Swords Castle is set to become a tourist attraction. In spring 2010, the already completely renovated parts of the castle served as the backdrop for the television series The Tudors .
sightseeing
Swords Castle and its courtyard are accessible Tuesday-Sunday by appointment - Tel. 00353 - (0) 1 - 8905600.
swell
- Thomas Fanning: An Irish Medieval Tile Pavement: Recent Excavations at Swords Castle, County Dublin in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries . Issue 105 (1975). Pp. 47-82.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Swords Castle . In: Historic Swords . Retrieved November 19, 2018.
- ↑ a b Swords Castle . In: Irelands Castles . December 9, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
- ↑ ID 6428 . Excavations.ie.
- ^ Clodagh Sheehy: Swords Castle features in The Tudors . Herald.ie. October 1, 2009. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
- ↑ Swords Castle . Fingal Dublin. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
