Building Seatown Villas, Swords, 1949
Photo taken in 1949 of the men who built Seatown Villas. This was printed on the back cover of an illustrated fiftieth anniversary publication for Seatown Villas, Swords, entitled 'Things are fine in the Glock'. The publication contains reflections from the residents who moved into the estate when it was first built.
Seatown Villas Residents' Association, 1999.Building Seatown Villas, Swords, 1949
Seatown Villas Residents' Association, 1999.
Seatown Villas Residents' Association, 1999.
Building Seatown Villas, Swords, 1949
Photo taken in 1949 of the men who built Seatown Villas. This was printed on the back cover of an illustrated fiftieth anniversary publication for Seatown Villas, Swords, entitled 'Things are fine in the Glock'. The publication contains reflections from the residents who moved into the estate when it was first built.
Seatown Villas Residents' Association, 1999.Today, the majority of housing in Fingal consists of the modern housing estates typical of most Dublin suburbs. Seatown Villas in Swords was the first modern-style housing estate in North County Dublin. It was built in 1949 and consisted of ninety-two new houses.
The houses in Seatown Villas were allocated to people already living in the Swords area. At the time the estate was built, the population of Swords was approximately 2,000. Today, according to the Central Statistics Office, Swords has a population of 43,288 and is the eighth-largest town in Ireland.
Traditionally, Fingal was well-known for its thatched houses, and the skill of thatching is still practiced in the area. Rush and Lusk are the places best known for thatched houses. Sadly, there has been a steady decline in the number of thatched houses in recent decades. Fingal is also known for its big houses and castles, which in the past were homes to the social élite.
In the rest of this section, we will take a look at an example of a big house in Fingal. We will also examine the tradition of thatched cottages in the Fingal area.