Swords, Dublin
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| Swords Sord Cholm Cille | ||
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WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: | ||
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| Irish Grid Reference O184469 | ||
| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Leinster | |
| County: | Fingal | |
| Elevation: | 3 m | |
| Population (2006) | 33,998 | |
Swords (Sord Cholm Cille in Irish) is a medium-sized suburban town to the north of Dublin City, Ireland, close to Dublin Airport.
In 1994, Swords became the county town of the then newly-established county of Fingal. In 2001, it became the administrative centre for that county, upon the completion of the €12m Fingal County Hall.
The town can trace its origins back to 560, having been founded by Saint Colmcille (521-567). Legend has it that the saint blessed a local well, giving the town its name Sord meaning "clear" or "pure". However, An Sord also means "the water source" and could indicate a large communal drinking well that existed in antiquity.
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[edit] Modern Swords
[edit] Amenities
Swords has a wide range of shops, banks, pubs and other businesses, including a large modern shopping centre, the Pavilions Centre, off the R132. The recent extension of The Pavilions shopping centre has a multi-screen cinema.
The district is served by a number of schools, three National Schools - Holy Family (Rivervalley Estate), St. Cronan's N.S. and St. Colmcille's N.S., Gaelscoil Bhhrian Boroimhe and Scoil an Duinnigh (in Kinsealy), an Educate Together School (outside the town), and a Church of Ireland "Boro" school (Primary Schools). There are also four Secondary Schools in the town: Loreto College (Rivervalley Estate)an all girls school; Choláiste Choilm, an all-boys school, Fingal Community College and St. Finian's Community College.
There is also a Youthreach facility and Adult Literacy and Education Centre.
[edit] Attractions
Swords Castle is undergoing a significant redevelopment and is intended to become a centre of leisure and a tourist attraction. The body of Brian Boru was said to have been brought there after the Battle of Clontarf, though recent evidence would suggest that the destination was Swords Abbey, which lies slightly to the west of the Main Street.
[edit] Transport and Access
The main bus route to the city centre from Swords is the 41, via Santry along the Swords Road. However, the 43 bus route travels to the city centre via Coolock. The Metro route north catering to the Swords/Airport area will run via Ballymun, Dublin City University, Griffith Ave, Lwr Drumcondra Road , the Mater Hospital, O'Connell Street and St Stephens Green.
[edit] Growth and Population
The town has seen huge growth in the last 25 years. The majority of residents that arrived to Swords during the 1970's, 80's and 90's to fill the new sprawling housing estates such as Rivervalley, Swords Manor and Castle Lands - now known as Oaklands, Castle Avenue, Castle Grove, Castle Park, Castle Drive and St. Colmcille's Estate - were from north city areas such as Coolock, Ballymun, Santry and Artane.
The growth of the town is set to continue for the next 20 years, contributed to by the town's proximity to Dublin Airport, the existence of large undeveloped green spaces north and west of the town, and developments in transport catering to the area.
The town's overall population is recorded in volume 1 of the 2006 census as 33,998, which makes it the third largest town in Ireland after Drogheda and Dundalk (however, this population reading does not include the Kinsealy area of Swords or the newly constucted Holywell/Gorse Hill areas - which bring the area's actual population to circa. 42,000).
The town is heavily under the influence of Dublin Airport and is disconnected from the city by a tight "green belt" around the airport. However, Swords would more resemble a north city suburb rather than a rural town, such as Lusk or Rush.
[edit] Social Life
By the late 80's/early 90's, Swords' main street had quite a poor appearance, with few amenities in the area and many derelict old houses and industrial sites along the Main St. / Dublin Road area. The council allowed a bar extension along the Main St. to encourage development in the town and the town now boasts a wide selection of pubs, Late bars and Nightclubs.
Many of the traditional bars that dotted the Main St. were transformed into modern pubs, a couple capable of holding more than 500 people, and now Swords has one of the biggest night life scenes on the north side of Dublin. The town has over a dozen bars such as The Slaughtered Lamb, The Star, The Old Boro, The Harp and Wrights. It also has a range of restaurants such as Trentunos, The Pink Elephant and The Old School House; the latter has won many awards. The Carnegie Court Hotel is the location for Velvet, a new club in Swords. Also in Swords is 'The Pound' on Bridge Street which remains the only pub still operating which is attached to Swords Castle, and is also birthplace of 'The Cheeky Lawless' cocktail which has gained in popularity in North Co. Dublin. This pub is affectionately known as 'The Office' to many of its regulars.
[edit] Improvement
For a number of years the centre of the town was allowed to fall into slight disrepair - the town received the title of dirtiest in Ireland for two years running, through the effort of local residents and Fingal County Council under the leadership of Mayor Ronan Diarmuid McCall, Swords has gone from being voted dirtiest town in Ireland (2003, 2004) in an Irish Businesses Against Litter survey to receiving the tag of 'only slightly littered' in the 2006 survey.
[edit] Housing Development
Swords is a socio-economically mixed area with the local housing stock being made up of private and local authority housing. Private estates neighbour council estates throughout the town and as such the social exclusion seen in other parts of the north city does not exist in Swords. In 1999 the Seatown Villas area of Swords celebrated 50 years in existence, making it the oldest local authority housing estate in Dublin outside of the city limits. In 2005, Fingal County Council opened 225 council housing units in the Applewood development in Swords. This is the first such public/private housing development to take place in Fingal where private development is inter-mixed with local authority housing. This successful pilot scheme has been replicated in the south of the town in the Boroimhe Estate and also in the Mulhuddart area.
[edit] Employers
Swords is the home to international chemical producers and pharmaceutical giants Opec and Bristol Myers Squibb and also to a large retail and business park called Airside Retail and Business Park, on the southern fringe of the town hosting employers such as Fujitsu Siemens[1], Motorola[www.motorola.com/], Sandisk, the Health Service Executive[www.hse.ie/], and the European Head Quarters of both Ingersoll Rand International and Kellogg’s amongst others. East of the town, running parallel to Swords by-pass, lies the large Seatown Industrial Estate, home to Fyffes, DHL, Hertz, Weight Watchers' Distribution Centre, Adecco Recruitment, Sono Press and other factories and logistic firms. In the village itself you have Fingal County Council, Centra, Paddy Power[2], Ladbrokes[3] and Wise Owl Bookshop[4].
[edit] Skate Park
In around mid 2006 the local authority built a skatepark & adjoining basketball courts in Swords located in Balheary Park, across from the Castlegrange housing estate. The park contains a bowl, a vertwall, a spine, some quarterpipes and a section of boxes in the middle of the park. It is also said that it will soon have floodlights although the skatepark does not have a roof, so when it rains it can be difficult and dangerous to skate in. Once again, Fingal C.C. is set to implement this development in the Blanchardstown area on the back of the success of the Swords pilot scheme.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- something.ie/swords Swords area community website.
- Population list of Irish towns
- SwordsDublin.com is a lively community site dedicated to the town of Swords.
- Movies@Swords Cinema
- www.SwordsTown.com Swords Community Site - Contains Local News, Events, Links and a Messageboard
- Directory of businesses in Swords
[edit] References
da:Swords (by) de:Swords es:Swords fr:Swords lt:Sordsas nl:Swords (plaats) nn:Swords
