A historical society in Donabate & Portrane was first established in 1948 but became inactive in 1955. It was reactivated in 1972 by Mr Peadar Bates of Donabate and continues to this day. The aim of the society is the collection of information on the peninsula as to the customs, stories and incidents of the ancient, medieval and modern times to complete a written history of the area.

The Donabate/Portrane historical society has regular meetings, times and dates of which will be posted on social media and website, anyone interested is welcome to attend. Talks and presentations are also arranged several times a year, information available as before, and all are welcome.

The society Local History Museum is located in the courtyard of Newbridge House and is open every Saturday & Sunday (+ bank holidays) from 2 to 4pm, entry is free. The museum provides a wonderful window into the past of the peninsula containing artefacts and images of life in rural Donabate and Portrane, and the ‘big’ houses of the area. Well worth a visit! For information please contact: Donald Henderson 087-2610164 Copies of Peadar Bates book available in the museum, or call 087-2397608

The final construction of Swords Castle was the work of many hands and many centuries too.

Having a siting near a powerful, navigable river recommended Swords immediately to the conquering Norman’s in 1170 ad. Rivers provide vital water, allow for rapid travel over the waterways of that day and provided these new continental invaders with immediate access to the open sea at the Malahide estuary. Sea travel, in a territory still covered by thick forest, was the most efficient means of travel the Swords Castle was built not so much for defence or sieges either, but for control of the local area and native population.

Nevertheless, as this 1790 print confirms with fishermen depicted near the Constable’s Tower(1400s). The castle once boasted a surrounding moat, fed directly from the river Ward. Tight lines to all our fishermen!

By Mike Power

One of the most defensively strong parts of Swords Castle, this gate has altered much over time, especially in the later buildings attaching to it. The original castle here would have been surrounded by a moat, the water diverted from the nearby Ward River, with a drawbridge crossing over it. The compressed space within the gate, was designed as a murder zone, arrows and heavy objects being rained down on the heads of any closely grouped attackers.

The earlier photo (c 1880s), shows an earnest group of Victorian antiquarians (mostly clergymen), posing beside two poor-looking Irish women. Note the thatched roof of their home and their rough and ready appearance, most Swords buildings of that period having been similar the photographer, by contrasting these two very different classes of Irish folk, sends an implicit message of : ‘English Ascendancy good’ - ‘Irish backward and bad’. These unhelpful attitudes to the native Irish characterised those held by many of the upper classes within Swords for generations.

Richard John Griffith (1784 - 1878) of Griffith’s Valuation fame, was an eminent scientist, geologist, and public official , whose careful surveying work in Ireland formed the basis for the first Ordanance Survey(1839).Griffith’s precise geological examinations of Ireland also informed the development of the new scientific studies of both Irish soils and of the burgeoning science of Irish paleontology (fossils).

This beautifully made and hand- coloured map of Swords village (September 1848) was drawn up by Griffith in his own hand. He also signed it personally as Commissioner for Valuation. His survey then revealed that 65 houses within the village were liable for tax. This priceless map reveals a post-famine Swords in a somewhat healthy and thriving state, few houses then being vacant or derelict. The widespread tragedy of the Great Irish Famine(1845-52) may have fallen less forcefully on what seems to have been a somewhat resilient and prosperous Swords.

This map can be viewed in the Arches, an heirloom of the successful business Taylor family, the original owners of this pub.

The various branches of the Taylor and Savage families have certainly left their mark on the retailing history of Swords. At one time, they had both a drapiery and a much-loved (and missed!) hardware shop on Main St. This latter shop began trading in 1984, continuing until it closed its doors in December 2008.

At its peak, it employed 12 staff, 8 full-time and 4 part-time. The ostensible reason given for its closure was high local rates, but widespread recession loomed in Ireland then, a challenging time for all local businesses.

Christy Russell, of that famous Lusk family was one person left jobless as a result. Christy, as we all know, has had many setbacks in his life, but he’s still a stalwart of the Lusk Pipe Band, with its many medals and achievements. Good on you Christy and on all the members of this illustrious band,
keeping the fine musical tradition of Fingal alive and thriving!

The name of Taylor (Fr:Taileur=’Cutter’) began with the Norman invasion of 1170.Colonel James Fitzeustace Taylor (1834-1915), the last resident of Swords House had a distinguished British Army military career. In the Egypt campaign of 1882, Colonel Taylor was severely wounded in the thigh, for which bravery he won the Egypt medal.

Retiring to Swords house in Sept 1889, he became a Justice of the Peace (JP) as well as serving on many local committees. James Taylor never married, effectively extinguishing the Taylor family line in Swords House. The Taylors were a Catholic family, an unusual occurrence for landed folk of north Co Dublin.
The site of the earlier Swords House is now occupied by Fingal Co Co. Offices. For centuries this earlier site had beautiful gardens and a lodge-house, the Taylor Swords demesne extending right up to the Malahide Road and eastwards, 700 acres in all.

Having three stories over a basement, this house was the social centre of Swords for the ‘gintry’ of county Dublin. The fine Irish oak trees we see there today are the direct descendants of the original Swords House tree gardens.

James Taylor also provided the land to Fr Vincent Carey, a Dominican, to build St Columchille’s church in 1827. Fr Carey also had a special path through Sword’s house to attend his priestly duties. Being so prominent in the area, the Taylor family had their own personal entrance to the church, as well as their own family seating.

The carefully posed 1900 picture conveys the ordered, gentrified image of the great house typical of that day, maid, chauffeur, gardener and boy all posing in front of ‘their’ house.

Forsaking their city centre offices in 2000, Fingal Co Co established County Hall here, effectively making Swords the administrative capital of Fingal. Swords House was demolished in the 1980s, effectively ending the Swords connection of centuries with the influential Taylor dynasty.

For more information please contact Mike at: Mp9211198@gmail.com

The east side of Swords castle was the earliest part built; the original castle having had a much smaller footprint than the area enclosed by the extensive pentagon curtain wall we see there today. The venerable east tower shown here would have tottered to ground long ago, but for the modern steel supports buttressing it.

These six young boys are long passed away now, being 104 years in modern year! In time no doubt, they became the beloved fathers and grandfathers of many Swords families. We recall them fondly as they lived stringent lives then in a much poorer Swords. Wearing their trademark short pants, jumpers and sporting impish expressions, they posed for the camera outside cluttered gerry-built structures, a ‘privvie’ (outside toilet) leaning against the castle to their left.

The modern picture shows the same site cleared of it’s buildings, the tower whitewashed (as it would have been) and defining the original c.1200 line of the castle. The holes we see in it are putlogs, holes for supporting scaffolding. Sitting well back from north street, the area between would have been a murder zone, specifically cleared to provide scant cover for attacking enemies.

For more information, or to speak to Mike about local Swords heritage he can be contacted via email: mp9211198@gmail.com

With it’s different names over time, the present-day Arch pub has always played a pivotal role in the social life of Swords. Burnt by the Black and Tans in 1920, it’s granite facade still features some bullet-holes dating from that troubled era of Swords history.

The earlier photo shows that another business, a harness-makers shop, was originally attached to the main building, as well as a ‘jostle-stone’ to stop cartwheels striking and damaging its wall. These vertical stones can be found in many of the back lanes of Swords. These particular structures were removed when Chapel Lane was widened for modern traffic.

The eponymous star above gave it’s name to this business in the modern age.In the 80s and 90s, many older Swords folk looked forward to their Sunday roast carried home to them from the Star!

The ad in the left window is for DWD, the Dublin Whiskey Distillery, a famous distiller founded by master distiller John Brannick in 1872.His distillery was located on Jone’s Road and ushered in a golden age of Irish whiskey making. Amazingly, this venerable business was revived in 2017, some 71 years later, continuing a long and honerable tradition of distilling in Dublin.

The modern business here continues Sword’s long and proud tradition of hospitality and friendliness to all customers. Cheers!!

The Ward River has powered many water-mills in its time, the volume and flow of the river having been historically much stronger than we see in it today. Before the age of steam, wind and waterpower were the only sources of energy available. In 1847 there were 3 mills working from the Ward. This particular one operated well into the 1940s, many of our older residents remembering it’s nostalgic resonant grumbling and grinding sounds!

The bridge itself dates from 1875 and is made of cut limestone with very distinctive ‘saddleback’ coping. Next time you are down this way, look down into the river to see a string marking the historic levels of water here. Down on the left at riverside you will also see the typical entry-piers I’ve cleaned, placed here to allow access to the river for washing clothes or drawing water. These piers appear all along the Ward to allow safe access to a once powerful and dangerous stream.

The following is an extract from Mike Power’s forthcoming book - Swords: History and Mysteries… A Community Guide

Despite being situated solidly within the ‘Pale’(‘Pallium’ latin=A Fence) the spirit of Irish nationalism was never quite extinguished in Swords and Fingal…Swords folk contributed to every insurrection in Ireland, most notably in 1916, when the Fingal brigade of the Irish Volunteers led by Captain Richard Coleman of Main St. fought bravely in the engagement in the Mendacity Instit, Dublin.Swords folk can be very proud of it’s long and honourable tradition of nationalism, often carried out in the face of great opposition from the authorities. Fingal Abu !

‘Fingal has done more than its share in Ireland’s republican cause…’

Eamonn de Valera 1940
Easter Monday 1916 in the village of Swords dawned fine and dry. The Taylor brothers Tom, Joe and Christopher left their home in Taylors’ pub, Main Street, and headed out toKnocksedan bridge, half-an-hour’s walking at their brisk military pace. While confused by Eoin Mc Neill’s letter in the Sunday Independent to stand down, they still held to Captain Richard ‘Dick’ Coleman’s order:
‘We meet at Knocksedan Bridge on Monday, Ok?’

Their new boots chafing their feet as they strolled, going up the Brackenstown Road, they met Christopher ‘Kit’ Moran.

‘Is it still on?’ he asked, the others, saying nothing, walking stolidly ahead.

Kit Moran’s Mauser rifle slapped rhythmically on his hip, ‘damn blunderbuss,’ he spoke as he walked, knowing well the horrid mess its 57 mm. rounds could make of something as fragile as the human body. Seventy men were already waiting on the bridge, most smoking and cooling their heels, their mood black, disappointed with the poor turnout.

Some peered over the parapet at the black pools of water 60 feet below, pondering what lay ahead.
Finally, Captain Richard Coleman arrived, his Sam Browne belt and brass buttons shining in the shafts of sunlight scattering on the bridge. Pointedly, taking each man in with his eyes he said: ‘Right then, a Oglaigh, this is what we did all that hard training for – this is the day!’