Calendar of State Papers. Calendar of Carew MSS. G. Hill, “Macdonnells of Antrim.” W. S. Smith, “Shane’s Castle.” Donovan, “Annals of the Four Masters.” Parliamentary Gazetteer. W. S. Smith, “Memories of ’98”; G. Hill, “Shane’s Castle”; “Origin and Characteristics of the Population in the Counties of Down and Antrim,” and Notes, all in _Ulster Journal of Archæology_. _SWORDS CASTLE_ About seven miles from Dublin, on the chief highway to the North, is situated the town of Swords, Sword, Surd, or Swerdes, as it is variously termed in ancient manuscripts. From the earliest ages of Christianity the church founded by St. Columbkille, with its attendant offices and monastery, made the neighbourhood a powerful ecclesiastical centre; so that, when in later years the church lands of Swords became joined to the see of Dublin, they formed no inconsiderable part of the Archbishop’s revenue. In the Bull of Pope Alexander III. in 1179 to St. Laurence O’Toole, Archbishop of Dublin, confirming his archiepiscopal see, Sword is placed second on the list of churches in importance. Therefore it is not surprising that the Englishmen who succeeded O’Toole in the see of Dublin should have erected their country residence in a town, from the surrounding lands of which they derived so much of their income. The site for the castle or palace was chosen on the east bank of Swords River, and the area covered by the buildings was more extensive than is usual for a Norman fortress, while the defences were somewhat less, as we hear no mention, nor see any remains, of the keep, which forms so universal a feature of the chief baronial strongholds. Authorities place the date of building variously between 1184 and 1282, which gives a somewhat wide margin, but its erection is most generally assigned to John Comyn, the first English Archbishop of Dublin, who was elected at Evesham, 1181, and who was one of those to welcome Prince John at Waterford in 1185. An inquisition of 1265 finds that there was a constable of the castle in this Archbishop’s time. The palace was built in castellated style, and the range of embattled walls flanked with towers is still complete. The warders’ walk is yet easy to trace. Over the gateway were the apartments for the guard, and just below is still visible the bakehouse chimney, of which mention will be made later. [Illustration: SWORDS CASTLE.] Like so many of the castles of Leinster, Swords provided for years a convenient quarry for the neighbourhood, and what had once been corner stones of a palace went to support the thatched roofs of the surrounding cabins, so that few of the buildings which stood inside the battlements are now traceable.