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SWO
stabulary and a revenue police station. In the town
are the parish church, the R. C. chapel, and a dispen-
sary.—See KILCONDUFF.
SWORDS, a market and post-town (formerly a par-
liamentary borough), and a parish, in the barony of
NETHERCROSS, county of DUBLIN, and province of
LEINSTER, 7 miles (N.) from Dublin, on the road to
Drogheda by Balbriggan; containing 3722 inhabitants,
of which number, 2537 are in the town. The place
appears to owe its origin to the foundation of a mon-
astery here, in 512, by St. Columbkill, who presented to
it a missal written by himself, appointed St. Finan
Lobhair, or the Leper, its first abbot, and blessed the
well there. The monastery continued long to increase
in character and wealth, and the town in consequence
rose to such a magnitude, that it had several additional
places of worship, among which were chapels dedicated
to St. Finan and St. Bridget, near the latter of which
was an ancient cross, called “Pardon Crosse.” It was
repeatedly plundered and burnt by the Danes; and
about the year 1035 it suffered in a similar manner
from an attack by Conor O’Melaghlin, king of Meath,
who was killed in the engagemeut, to revenge which his
brother ravaged the whole district of Fingal with fire
and sword. Notwithstanding these repeated injuries it
still retained the character of a place of much import-
ance: for when the bodies of Brian Boroimhe and his
son Murrough, who fell in the arms of victory at the
famous battle of Clontarf, were being conveyed to
their final place of interment at Armagh, they were
deposited for one night during the journey in the abbey
of this town. On the foundation of the collegiate
establishment of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, by Archbishop
Comyn in 1190, Swords was not only constituted a
prebend of that church, but it is noticed by Archbishop
Alan, in his Repertorium Viride as “the Golden Prebend,
similar to that of Sarum in England;” and in the same
work it is registered as giving name to one of the rural
deaneries in the northern part of the diocese. King
John granted to the same prelate the privilege of hold-
ing a fair there for eight days after the feast of St.
Columbkill. It was incorporated by Queen Elizabeth
in 1578. Jas. I., in 1603, granted to the Archbishop of
Dublin a confirmation of the privileges of the town,
together with a weekly market on Monday; in this
document the place is called the Archbishop’s manor
of Swords. A grant of two additional fairs was made
to it in 1699. On the breaking out of the war in. 1641,
the Irish army of the pale assembled for the first time
at Swords, and on the 10th of the following January
they were driven from it with the loss of 200 men, by
Sir Chas. Coote, with scarcely any on his side except
that of Sir Lorenzo Carey, a son of Lord Falkland, who
was slain in the action.
The town occupies a pleasing situation on the steep
banks of a small but rapid stream, which discharges
itself northwards into the inner extremity of the creek
or pill of Malahide: the creek, which comes within
a mile of the town, is navigable for boats at high
water. It consists chiefly of one wide street, a mile
in length, formed of houses which, with but few ex-
ceptions, are of mean appearance. Fairs are held
on March 17th and May 9th for cattle and pedlery;
petty sessions on Wednesdays; and it is a constabulary
police station. Its charter, already noticed, which bears
583
SWO
date in the 20th year of the reign of Elizabeth, incor-
porates the place by the name of the “Bailiff and Bur-
gesses within the Town of Swords.” It was a potwallop-
ing borough and sent two representatives to the Irish
parliament, but was disfranchised at the union. By
an order of the privy council of Ireland, dated Jan. 10th,
1837, under the Act of the 6th and 7th of Wm. IV.,
for extending the jurisdiction and regulating the pro-
ceedings of the Civil Bill Court, the county of Dublin
is divided into two districts: the northern, called the
district of Balbriggan, consists of the barony of Bal-
rothery, so much of the parishes of Swords, Killossory,
and Malahide as are in the barony of Coolock, and the
barony of Nethercross, except the part of the parish of
Finglass which is within that barony; the act of council
directs that two general sessions of the peace are to be
held annually at Balbriggan and two at Swords for
this district: for the particulars of the southern district,
named the district of Kilmainham, see KILMAINHAM.
The parish, according to the county book in the
custody of the treasurer, contains 3536 Irish acres, of
which 1227 are in the town and its liberties. The soil is
good, and the system of agriculture rapidly improving:
there are several extensive corn-mills within the parish,
and it is embellished with numerous seats and villas.
Brackenstown, the seat of R. Manders, Esq., is a spa-
cious mansion, situated in a demesne laid out with much
taste, in which is a cemetery erected by the present
proprietor’s father, whose remains are interred there:
this place was the residence of the Chief Baron Bysse
in the time of Cromwell, who visited him here during
his military expedition to Ireland. Balheary House,
the residence of A. Baker, Esq., is a large square struc-
ture with several apartments of ample dimensions; in
the saloon and dining-rooms are some fine pieces of
tapestry, formerly the property of the Earl of Ormonde:
the surrounding demesne, through which flow the small
rivers of Fieldstown and Knocksedan, is well laid out,
and commands a fine view of Howth and the Dublin
mountains, with the town and environs of Swords,
which, with its church, round tower, ruins of the
monastery, and other interesting objects, presents a
varied and picturesque scene in the foreground. Sea-
field is the residence of J. Arthure, Esq.; Little Lis-
senhall, of R. Smith, Esq.; Newport, of P. Wilson,
Esq.; the Vicarage, of the Hon. and Rev. F. Howard;
Swords House, of Jas. Taylor, Esq.; Prospect Point,
of Capt Purcell; Cremona, of Lieut. Col. Gordon;
and Mantua, of Mrs. Daly. The parish is a prebend,
rectory, and vicarage, in the diocese of Dublin. In
1431 it was divided by Archbishop Talbot into three
unequal portions, one of which was assigned to a
prebendary of St. Patrick’s, the second to the per-
petual vicar, and the remainder to the Economy of
the same cathedral, which was thereby bound to
maintain six minor canons and six choristers, and to
furnish lights and to keep the building in a proper state
of repair. At present, the rectory in part constitutes
the corps of the prebend of Swords; one of the other
portions is appropriated to the Economy fund of St.
Patrick’s, Dublin; and the other, with the vicarage, is
episcopally united to the rectory of Kinsealy, and the
curacies of Killeek and Killossory, in the patronage of
the Archbishop. The tithes amount to £273. 1. 2½.,
of which £112.13. 5½. is payable to the dean and chap-