Skip to content

A PLACE IN FOSTERSTOWN

Pinnock Hill

A protected milestone, a name with two spellings, and four projects meeting at one roundabout.

Illustrative image, not a verified photograph

The name

EstablishedThe Placenames Database of Ireland lists Cnoc Pheannóg, in English Pennock Hill, with “Pinnock hill” as a local form. It is a hill, in the parish of Swords, and the entry is filed under the townlands of Crowscastle and Fosterstown North. It gives no earlier spellings and no meaning. Logainm: Cnoc Pheannóg

EstablishedTwo spellings are in use today. Old maps and heritage reports say Pennock Hill (the report below names a house Pennock Hill House), and the roundabout, the bus corridor and the new housing say Pinnock Hill.

Still to establishWhat Pheannóg refers to, who or what the hill was named for, and why the name stuck to a junction.

The road and the milestone

EstablishedThe R132 follows the old mail road from Dublin to the north. A heritage report for the bus corridor says milestones were put along it in 1812 at 50 shillings each, and a footpath was built as far as Swords in 1823. In the 18th century the road between Drumcondra and Swords had a name for robberies of mail coaches and people on foot. BusConnects EIAR, chapter 15

EstablishedAt Pinnock Hill there is a protected milestone. Fingal’s Record of Protected Structures lists it as number 866, a “mid-eighteenth-century triangular milestone associated with turnpike road”. The report rates it of medium sensitivity, notes it stands in front of a modern gate pier, and says it has been painted over. BusConnects EIAR, chapter 16

EstablishedThe BusConnects scheme needs land behind the milestone for a bus stop and shelter, a cycle track and a footpath. The plan is to remove the milestone temporarily, protect it, and put it back near where it is now. The report rates the risk of damage while it is moved as high, and says the paint should be removed.

ProbableThis stone is older than the 1812 set. A mid-18th-century date points to the turnpike era rather than the 1812 mail-road stones. The report itself is not tidy here: in one place it says the milestone is “at Pinnock Hill” and in another “at Airside Junction”, though both refer to the same record number.

Still to establishWhat is carved on it, which turnpike it belonged to, and when it will be moved. Nothing we found says. If you have a photograph of it from before it was painted, send it to us.

The houses that went

EstablishedHistoric maps show a group of 19th-century houses in Fosterstown North and Nevinstown West, including a dwelling named Pennock Hill House. The R132 Dublin Road has been widened over them, and there is no trace above ground. The bus-corridor report says features may survive below the surface and that archaeological monitoring will take place there. BusConnects EIAR, chapter 15

Still to establishWho lived in Pennock Hill House, when it was built and when it went. The Ordnance Survey six-inch and 25-inch maps on GeoHive and Griffith’s Valuation are the places to look. The area is also covered on the history page.

Today

EstablishedPinnock Hill is a roundabout on the R132, near Airside Retail Park and Boroimhe. It is where the BusConnects corridor starts and where Fingal’s R132 works finish. The planned MetroLink station at Fosterstown is just north of Airside Retail Park.

EstablishedBeside the roundabout is a modern sculpture of swans in mid-flight on their way to Swords Estuary. Its base is ringed by limestone kerbstones salvaged from renovation works in Swords. The bus scheme would remove its traffic island, so the sculpture would be moved and protected in the meantime. BusConnects EIAR, chapter 15

What is planned

Four separate projects meet at this roundabout. This list keeps them apart: a policy, an approval, a building under construction and a permission are different things. Last checked 19 October 2026. For all of Fingal’s projects, see the plans page.

  1. BusConnects Swords to City Centre Core Bus Corridor

    National Transport Authority

    About 12 km of bus, cycle and walking route along the R132, starting at the Pinnock Hill junction and running past the airport and Santry to Parnell Square. At Pinnock Hill it needs land from behind the milestone for a new bus stop with shelter, a cycle track and a footpath.

    ApprovedApproved with conditions on 19 June 2024. Two parties took judicial review proceedings in August 2024, and in August 2025 the NTA board approved terms to settle them. We found no construction start date for the Swords corridor.

    An Coimisiún Pleanála, case 317121 · BusConnects: planning approval, 19 June 2024 · Irish Times, 8 August 2025

  2. R132 Connectivity Project

    Fingal County Council; contractor Murphy

    The roundabouts along about 3 km of the R132 become signalised junctions with crossings and bus and cycle lanes. The scheme runs from the Bostik junction to the edge of the Pinnock Hill roundabout. Two lanes stay open in each direction at peak times.

    Under wayWork officially began on 30 March 2026, in four phases over about 25 months, at about €21m funded by the NTA. The report gives no detail on the Pinnock Hill end.

    Dublin People, 30 March 2026 · Fingal: R132 Connectivity Project

  3. Fosterstown Masterplan

    Fingal County Council

    The roundabout is to be upgraded (signalised or similar) as an early, essential work, before the later phases can be built. A new Fosterstown Link Road would run from Forest Road to the roundabout. The plan also shows a hotel fronting the R132 and the roundabout, mainly five to eight storeys with a nine-storey end block.

    PolicyAdopted May 2019. A planning framework, not a permission.

    Fingal, Fosterstown Masterplan (May 2019)

  4. Apartments at Pinnock Hill

    Castlestar (Swords) Limited

    An application for 219 apartments and a crèche at Pinnock Hill, Fosterstown North, as a seven-year permission. The board ordered 15 apartments omitted and the height capped at seven storeys, which reports describe as 204 apartments. The first design had five blocks of three to nine storeys.

    Permission grantedGranted with conditions on 30 March 2023. The developer’s own page lists 230 homes as “in planning” and is undated. We found nothing on whether building has started.

    An Coimisiún Pleanála, case 314253 · An Coimisiún Pleanála, case 312149 (earlier consultation) · The Journal, 5 April 2023

Sources

Developers and public bodies are named only as they appear in these public records and reports. This site takes no side on any scheme.

Unofficial local summary, last checked 19 October 2026. All places · History of Fosterstown