A Wexford castle comes back to life

A yellow Independence Day flag is flying over Sigginstown Castle as I approach. It is proof that the once green, mouldy-walled ruin in Tacumshane that my contractor husband once tilled the fields around has come to life again – and that Connecticut couple, Liz and Gordon Jones, are at home.

The tower is now practically finished, they are living in the adjoining big house and new life has been breathed into this sixteenth-century heritage building that was once a defence structure to keep an eye out for coastal, marauding invaders coming in off Carne or Rosslare.

When I arrive, Gordon has the cement mixer running and Liz climbs down two lower ladders from scaffolding where she has been pointing the east wall of the tower (i.e. filling the gaps between the stones with mortar in order to seal it against the elements).

Michael Carroll, a local stonemason who- along with his family- has done much of the renovation work, is replacing some porous stones at the base of the south tower wall.

It was a photograph that Michael took of the castle that Liz Jones had as her phone screen image for four years before she and Gordon bought the castle, with 5.5 acres, in 2016 for the sum of €150,000.

Right now, the construction phase, phase three, is nearly over. One more shift of the scaffolding and it can finally come down. After that- and finishing the renovation of an adjacent farm building as an events space- it will be a matter of landscaping the area. “Fluffing up the garden,” Gordon calls it.

Living history

In 2023 they plan to move into marketing mode in earnest to let people know, worldwide, about Sigginstown Castle and the many events that will be held there. Think tours and sea-shanty music sessions, historical re-enactments, lectures and use as a film set. Think the attractions of parapets and watchtower and arrow slits in walls, a spiral staircase, a minstrel gallery, a tavern “snug”, four poster beds and a mass masonry stove where visitors can warm their posteriors on adjacent stone seats.

Think a heavy oak dining table, made by Gordon and Wicklow joiner James Grace, and costumed performances about the history of tea in Ireland and, down the line, medieval suppers.

“We thought people would be interested in the tower principally,” Liz says, “but what we’ve found so far is that people don’t only want a ‘walk through’ tour. They want the magical experience of sitting, eating, drinking and singing with others in the castle rooms, by candlelight.”

Labour of love

Liz and Gordon had always wanted to own a castle. A plan to do something similar in France fell through 30 years ago, but the couple felt that Sigginstown was calling to them.

Since 2016 it has been a labour of love; with emphasis on the labour.

“We’ve done as much work as we can ourselves to keep costs down,” Gordon says, “things like carrying buckets of mortar up stone steps 10 times a day. It has taken its toll on our health but at least the tower got plastered!”

Liz lists off a few aches and pains that now affect this 60-something couple – back, knee and hip issues and more recently hands, from all the pointing. Leg cramps continue, too, particularly for Gordon who can remember one night when the sudden pain made him “howl like a banshee”. He has recently had shoulder surgery too but life – and work at Sigginstown – goes on.

Their sense of humour appears to have kept them going through thick and thin.

“It’s always sunny in Sigginstown, even when it’s not,” Liz says. “That’s our motto. You have to laugh [to get through].”

Research

Every aspect of the renovation is a big story in itself. A huge amount of research was needed about everything from how to hold up the roof to getting bespoke nails made by Gorey blacksmith Finín Christie for the door into the tower to figuring out what paints to use to decorate the tower walls.

“Decorating the tower was a huge project,” Liz says, “with much work done by my artist friend Veda Crewe, but it makes this place unique. It is all based on extant historical images. People in the Middle Ages liked colour and displayed their wealth by using paint and fabric.”

When asked about stress over the past five years Gordon smiles and says “it was a great learning experience.”

Liz’s skills as an aerospace project manager are very obvious when she chronicles the renovation.

“This is a programme of various projects, each phase with multiple activities: it’s four buildings [new build at the side so they didn’t have to rent, the big house, the tower, and the to-be-completed farm building] so you’ve just got to keep re-planning and making progress every day and hitting deadlines even when it would be more comfortable to defer them.”

Great House Revival

Readers may remember that Sigginstown Castle featured in RTÉ’s The Great House Revival TV series on 1 May 2022.*

“The film crew was here for three years intermittently and the pressure was really on in spring 2022 to get the big house to the stage where we could have the living area and gallery and a bedroom finished,” Liz says.

Overall, renovating the castle, for the couple, has been about other people learning from the experience too.

“We could have bought a castle in better condition,” Liz says, “but for us, it was more interesting to bring it back to life and bring people along with us in the journey because then it’s an experience for everyone.”

Gordon agrees.

“The reason we did it is to share it with other people.”

Leaving, the yellow flag on the tower is still flying, putting this area of south Wexford now very definitely on the map.

*still available on RTE Player. S3, E6.

More info

Sigginstown will host a range of activities during Heritage Week, from 12-20 August.To learn more visit heritageweek.ie and sigginstowncastle.com