As featured on House Hunters International and the Great House Revival. Open for tours, cafe, events- check website. Hello, Welcome to Sigginstown Castle in Tacumshane, County Wexford Ireland. We've established this site to help tell our story and that of this lovely ruin. We are Liz & Gordon - we purchased the castle and 5.5 acres from the Pierce family, who held the property for many years. We f
ell in love with this gorgeous old building in 2013 when it was for sale on the internet, but there was already an offer on it, so we tramped around Ireland looking at many other possible tower houses. We live in the United States so had to make a few trips back and forth. Our romantic desire to own a 15th century building was tempered by the reality of working, and managing our current jobs and family. In October 2015 we came back to Ireland for Gordon's birthday. Liz had seen Sigginstown Castle back on the market, so we popped in to Keane Auctioneers to find out more about it. We were especially attracted to the attached house, as we realized that spiral staircases in keeps are tough as you get older. We visited the site and started talking in earnest about buying it. We came back in January 2016 to look in the tower itself, which is blocked up. We met a number of local people who were very generous with information and made us feel welcome. With the help of local archeologists, engineers and builders we asked ourselves and them: Is the building sound? The answer to both questions was yes, so we bought it! We plan to renovate the property to a habitable condition. We don't quite know what that means yet, and as it is a listed historical monument, we will need to get planning permissions from various authorities. We know the project is feasible - many people have converted tower houses in Ireland, although the percentage of people who buy one are only 1% we are told! Since we are not fabulously wealthy, our challenge will be to balance creativity, cost and conservation. Gordon does not want to eat cat food in his old age due to this project, so you will see a "no cat food" theme often here. Beyond making the building livable, we also want to use it as a platform for various workshops and events. Our family has participated in medieval re-enactment for the last thirty years. We have always dreamed of having a venue to teach traditional and historical skills, and learn more ourselves. We would like to see the building used for community activities and workshops at various stages of construction. One of our first activities will be to sponsor a design contest for university students. Gordon is an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) with a local ambulance company. He is also a professional musician, singing both church, classical and opera, as well as playing guitar for American and Irish folk music. Gordon was also a professional draftsman for many years and will be using those skills again as we figure out plans for the property. Liz is a global program manager providing technical services and training. She spent 25 years in IT and is currently figuring out Facebook for the first time!. Liz took up the fiddle two years ago, having not touched it since age 15, to learn Irish traditional music. (We hope to play more in the area and host sessions also). We have two children, both in university. We hope that they will gain some professional experience from this project, as well as providing experience for other students. We have many friends in different fields of work, and hope to involve them as much as they want. Artists, craftsman, historians, engineers, dreamers, friendly neighbors - we can use them all! In the beginning all we had was a grand old ruin and some ideas. We knew that this would be an adventure and it has been so far! If you have ideas, information on the history or stories of Sigginstown or think you can help, feel free to contact us. Look at our website at www.sigginstowncastle.com also. Thanks for listening.
