Swords Round Tower has a conical cap and stands about 26m high. The upper 5m of the tower appear to have been rebuilt. Here there are four very large windows facing the cardinal points. The stonework in this area is rough and crude and totally unlike the stonework lower down. The trabeate doorway is 1.66m high and less than 1m above present ground level. In the 10th Century the Round Tower was used as a look-out post and housed the bloody remains of King Brian Boru and his son Murrough after the famous Battle of Clontarf on their way to be buried in Armagh. During the course of the decisive battle the Irish king’s army had routed the Viking invaders and at one point captured their flag. The black raven featured on the flag remains the symbol of Fingal today. Indeed the area gets its name from the Viking words ‘Fionn Gall', meaning 'land of the fair haired stranger', the term for Vikings who had settled in the area from the 8th Century onwards. After the battle many of the defeated Vikings remained on as residents in the area enriching the local Gaelic traditions with their own indigenous crafts such as wood carving and turning, wrought iron working, pottery, sculpting and garment design. The tower gives an unrivaled view of Fingal as far as the Mountains of Mourne on a clear day. John Sweetman, the United Irishman and friend of Wolfe Tone, was buried in the shadow of the two towers.